Socratic Arena - Starter Repo

Run a minimal Socratic seminar pipeline locally.

Prerequisites:

• Python 3.10+
• OpenAI API key in environment: OPENAI_API_KEY
• Redis server running locally (e.g., via Docker)
  • Ensure Redis is running before starting services; the broker will attempt to reconnect if it starts first.

Quick Start

1. Start Redis: If you have Docker installed, start Redis in the background by running this command in your terminal:

   docker compose up -d
   

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Set up your environment:

   • Create a .env file in the project root
   • Add your OpenAI API key: OPENAI_API_KEY=your_key_here

4. Start all services:

   python run_all.py

   This will start:

   • Visualizer (web interface)
   • Planner
   • Moderator
   • Scribe
   • Meta Agent
   • Multiple Philosopher agents with different perspectives
   • All agents consume type-specific task queues (e.g., tasks:planner,tasks:start_round,tasks:speak) and events are fanned out per-consumer (events:scribe,events:meta).

5. Open http://localhost:5000 in your browser (opens automatically)

   • Enter your philosophical question
   • Watch the discussion unfold in real-time

6. Press Ctrl+C in the terminal to stop all services

Manual Start (Alternative)

If you prefer to run services individually:

1. Start services in separate terminals:

   python visualizer/visualizer.py
   python planner/planner.py
   python moderator/moderator.py
   python scribe/scribe.py
   python meta/meta_agent.py
   python philosopher/philosopher.py  # run multiple with different PHIL_PROFILE env

2. Start a session using curl:

   curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
        -d '{"query":"Is free will compatible with determinism?"}' \
        http://localhost:5000/api/submit

3. Open http://localhost:5000/session/ to view

Architecture

See the "Socratic Arena — MVP Implementation Guide" (MVP.md) for detailed architecture, data schemas, and agent prompts.