DEPLOYMENT.md

🚀 Deployment Guide — Railway (Backend) + Vercel (Frontend)

⚠️ Key Constraint: BERT Model Size

The trained BERT model is 418 MB (model.safetensors).
GitHub blocks files >100MB. We use Git LFS to handle this.

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PART 1: Setup Git LFS + Push to GitHub

Step 1 — Install Git LFS

Download and install: https://git-lfs.com
Then in your terminal:

git lfs install

Step 2 — Track large model file

cd "d:\Users\Pranil\Github Repos\Question_AndAnswerGeneration"
git lfs track "Classification/checkpoints/best_model/model.safetensors"
git add .gitattributes

Step 3 — Stage and commit everything

git add .
git commit -m "Add deployment files + BERT model via LFS"
git push origin main

⏳ This will take a few minutes — the 418MB file uploads via LFS.

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PART 2: Deploy Backend to Railway

Step 4 — Create Railway account

Go to: https://railway.app
Sign up with GitHub account (easiest — auto-imports repos)

Step 5 — Create new project

1. Click "New Project"
2. Choose "Deploy from GitHub repo"
3. Select your Question_AndAnswerGeneration repo
4. Railway auto-detects Python → click "Deploy"

Step 6 — Set environment variables

In your Railway project → Variables tab → add these:

Variable	Value
SUPABASE_URL	https://your-project.supabase.co
SUPABASE_KEY	your-supabase-anon-key
GROQ_API_KEY	your-groq-api-key
GROQ_MODEL	llama-3.3-70b-versatile
EMBEDDING_MODEL	BAAI/bge-small-en-v1.5

Step 7 — Get your backend URL

After deployment completes (3–8 mins):
Go to Settings → Domains → Copy your URL
It looks like: https://question-andanswer-production.up.railway.app

Step 8 — Verify backend is live

Open in browser:

https://YOUR-RAILWAY-URL.up.railway.app/health
https://YOUR-RAILWAY-URL.up.railway.app/docs

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PART 3: Update Frontend with Backend URL

Step 9 — Update API_BASE in app.js

Open Frontend/app.js and change line 14:

// Before (local):
const API_BASE = "http://localhost:8000";

// After (production):
const API_BASE = "https://YOUR-RAILWAY-URL.up.railway.app";

Step 10 — Commit the frontend update

git add Frontend/app.js
git commit -m "Update API_BASE to Railway URL"
git push origin main

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PART 4: Deploy Frontend to Vercel

Step 11 — Create Vercel account

Go to: https://vercel.com
Sign up with GitHub account

Step 12 — Import project

1. Click "New Project"
2. Import your Question_AndAnswerGeneration repo
3. In "Configure Project":
   • Root Directory: Frontend
   • Framework Preset: Other (it's vanilla HTML)
   • Leave everything else default
4. Click "Deploy"

Step 13 — Get your frontend URL

Vercel gives you: https://question-andanswer.vercel.app

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✅ Final Test

1. Open your Vercel URL
2. Type a question: "What is the role of cofactors in enzyme activity?"
3. Click 🔬 Full Analysis
4. Should classify → retrieve → answer in ~10 seconds

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🔧 Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Railway deploy fails	Check Deploy Logs in Railway dashboard
BERT model not found	Confirm model.safetensors was pushed via Git LFS
CORS error in browser	Verify Railway URL in API_BASE has no trailing slash
Supabase timeout	Check your Supabase project is not paused (free tier pauses after inactivity)
Railway out of memory	Upgrade to Hobby plan ($5/mo) — BERT needs ~1.5GB RAM

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💰 Cost Summary

Service	Free Tier	Paid
Railway	500MB RAM, limited hours	$5/mo Hobby
Vercel	Unlimited static hosting	Free
Supabase	500MB DB, 2GB bandwidth	$25/mo Pro
Groq	Free tier (limited RPM)	Pay-per-use
Git LFS	1GB free	$5/mo per 50GB

💡 For a student project / demo: everything fits in free tiers.
Railway free tier may sleep after inactivity (cold start ~30s on first request).