RAG - lesson 7 | HackIndia Skills

Key point

Repo proves the skill

Your app is not shipped when it works only on your laptop. It is shipped when a recruiter or hackathon judge can clone it, run it, inspect the code, and see proof that answers are grounded.

What to include

Your public repo should show the full path from documents to cited answers. Do not hide the important parts in screenshots or private notebooks.

Keep sample documents small and safe to publish. Use your own notes, public policy pages, college handbook excerpts, or dummy startup docs. Do not upload private PDFs, paid course material, or anyone’s Aadhaar, marksheet, or phone number.

Your to-do

Minimum repo checklist

Do each one yourself, then tap it to tick it off. The ticks are only a checklist for you: they are not marked or scored.

Add app code for loading documents, retrieval, prompting, answer generation, citations, and evaluation.
Add setup steps that start from a fresh clone, including Python version, install command, and environment variables.
Add sample documents in a clearly named folder.
Add example questions with expected cited answers.
Add a short grounding evaluation with results and notes on failures.
Add a licence if you want others to reuse the code.

0 of 6 done

Example

Simple repo shape

Use boring names. They help people inspect your project fast.

doc-qa-rag/
  README.md
  requirements.txt
  .env.example
  app.py
  ingest.py
  evaluate.py
  data/
    sample_docs/
      college_faq.txt
      refund_policy.txt
  examples/
    questions.json
    cited_answers.md
  eval/
    grounding_eval.md

Example

README skeleton

Your README is the front door. Write it for someone who has five minutes before their next meeting.

# Document QA RAG App

Ask questions from the sample documents and get answers with citations.

## Features
- Loads documents from data/sample_docs
- Splits documents and creates embeddings
- Retrieves evidence for each question
- Answers with source citations
- Includes a small grounding evaluation

## Setup
1. Clone the repo
2. Create a virtual environment
3. Install dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt
4. Copy .env.example to .env and add your API key
5. Run ingestion: python ingest.py
6. Start the app: python app.py

## Try these questions
- What is the refund window?
- Who can apply for the hostel Wi-Fi pass?

## Grounding evaluation
See eval/grounding_eval.md for questions, answers, citations, and notes.

Common mistake

Do not overclaim

A small honest evaluation is better than a big vague claim. Say what works, what fails, and what you would fix next.

For example, write: “The app answers direct policy questions well. It struggles when the answer needs two far-apart sections.” This sounds more credible than “highly accurate RAG system”.

Tip

Use AI carefully

You can ask ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude to review your README, write setup steps, or suggest evaluation questions. Paste your folder tree and explain how the app runs.

Check every AI suggestion. Make sure commands are real, file names match your repo, and the sample outputs actually came from your app.