Xiajiao IM

English

简体中文

English

简体中文

Theme

Glossary ​

Key terms you will see in Xiajiao, grouped alphabetically.

A ​

Agent ​

An AI role with its own name, avatar, SOUL.md persona, model, and tools. Think of an agent as a specialized coworker.

→ Multi-agent chat

@mention ​

In a group, @AgentName routes the message to that agent.

You: @Translator turn this paragraph into English

→ Multi-agent chat

B ​

BM25 ​

Classic lexical scoring. Xiajiao’s RAG combines BM25 (keyword) with vector (semantic) search, fused via RRF.

→ RAG

C ​

call_agent ​

Built-in tool: one agent can delegate a subtask to another (up to three nesting levels).

Code assistant → call_agent(translator, "translate these comments")

→ Tool calling

Chunk ​

RAG splits documents into chunks—small (~200 characters) for precision, large (~800) for context.

→ RAG

Cron ​

Cron expressions schedule tasks (e.g. 0 9 * * * daily at 09:00). Exposed via manage_schedule.

→ Tool calling

D ​

Docker Compose ​

Optional orchestration (docker-compose.yml). Core idea remains: npm start is enough for many deployments.

→ Docker deployment

E ​

Embedding ​

Text → dense vector. Used for semantic memory search and deduplication. Similar meanings yield high cosine similarity.

"likes Python"     → [0.23, 0.87, …]
"prefers Python"   → [0.21, 0.85, …]
similarity ≈ 0.97 → treated as duplicate

→ Agent memory

F ​

FTS5 ​

SQLite full-text search (version 5). Powers message search and BM25-style RAG retrieval without Elasticsearch.

G ​

Group ​

A shared channel for people and agents—members, leader, optional collaboration chain.

→ Multi-agent chat

H ​

HTTP custom tool ​

A zero-code way to expose any REST API as an Agent tool. Configure URL, method, headers, body template with placeholders, and response extraction in Settings → HTTP Tools. Definitions stored in data/http-tools.json.

→ Tool calling — Custom tools

I ​

IM ​

Instant messaging—the primary UI metaphor in Xiajiao.

L ​

Leader ​

Default responder when no @mention is present.

→ Multi-agent chat

LLM ​

Large language model (GPT-4o, Claude, Qwen, …). Xiajiao calls provider APIs on behalf of agents.

→ Model configuration

M ​

MCP ​

Model Context Protocol — standardized tool/schema negotiation. Xiajiao acts as an MCP client: connect external MCP servers (stdio or HTTP) in Settings, and their tools auto-register as mcp:{serverId}:{toolName}.

→ Tool calling — Custom tools

Persist and retrieve long-term memories per agent.

→ Agent memory

O ​

OWNER_KEY ​

Login password from the environment. Default admin must be changed in production.

bash
OWNER_KEY="your-strong-password" npm start

→ Security

P ​

Provider ​

LLM vendor (OpenAI, Anthropic, Alibaba Qwen, DeepSeek, …). Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint works.

→ Model configuration

PWA ​

Progressive Web App—installable UI with offline caching support.

R ​

RAG ​

Retrieval-augmented generation: fetch relevant chunks before answering to reduce hallucinations.

→ RAG

RBAC ​

Role-based access control—Owner, Admin, Member, Guest.

→ Security

RRF ​

Reciprocal Rank Fusion merges BM25 and vector rankings: score = Σ 1/(k + rank_i) with k = 60.

→ RAG

S ​

SOUL.md ​

Markdown persona file per agent—role, rules, tone. Structured alternative to a single blob system prompt; easy to version.

markdown
# Translator
You are a bilingual expert.
## Principles
- Faithful, fluent, elegant

→ SOUL.md guide · Templates

Stream ​

Token-by-token generation pushed over WebSocket for a typing effect.

→ Architecture

System prompt ​

What the LLM sees as instructions—assembled from SOUL.md, memory, and RAG context.

T ​

Tool calling ​

LLM-invoked functions. Seven built-in tools (web_search, rag_query, memory_write, memory_search, call_agent, manage_channel, manage_schedule) plus extensible custom tools via HTTP tools, JS auto-register, and MCP.

→ Tool calling

Tool registry ​

Centralized module (server/services/tool-registry.js) that manages global tool registration, per-agent allow/deny lists, and LLM schema conversion. Auto-scans server/services/tools/ and data/custom-tools/ directories on startup.

→ Architecture

V ​

Vanilla JS ​

No React/Vue—plain browser JavaScript. Edit and refresh; no bundler required.

W ​

WAL ​

SQLite write-ahead logging—concurrent reads/writes and higher write throughput.

bash
sqlite3 data/xiajiao.db "PRAGMA journal_mode;"  # expect wal

→ Performance

Built-in search across multiple engines with failover.

→ Tool calling

WebSocket ​

Full-duplex channel for pushes and streaming (ws package server-side).

→ API reference

Workspace ​

Per-agent folder data/workspace-{id}/ holding SOUL.md, memory.db, and RAG files—isolated from other agents.

X ​

Collaboration chain ​

Linear handoff order inside a group (e.g. novelist → editor → translator). One user message can walk the chain; the full collaboration UI also shows status and human overrides.

User message
  → novelist (~5s)
  → editor (~3s)
  → translator (~3s)
  → final answer

→ Collaboration flow

Xiajiao (虾饺) ​

Xiajiao (虾饺) is a Cantonese dim sum—har gow—with a thin wrapper and shrimp filling. The project name evokes something small and precise with a rich interior: minimal dependencies, full capability.