FLock Research Visualization Platform

A modern, interactive website for exploring FLock.io's research papers in federated learning, decentralized AI, and privacy-preserving machine learning.

🚀 Live Demo: Coming soon
📚 Papers: 15+ publications, 164+ citations
🔄 Auto-Sync: Daily updates from Google Scholar
🤖 AI Chat: Powered by FLock's LLM API

Features

• 🎨 Beautiful UI: Modern design with dark mode support, matching FLock.io's aesthetic
• 📊 Interactive Visualizations:
  • Force-directed citation network graph
  • Semantic topic clustering and exploration
  • Venue-based paper filtering
• 🤖 AI-Powered Chat: Ask questions about FLock research using retrieval-augmented generation
• 🔄 Auto-Sync: Automatically fetches ALL papers from Google Scholar profile (daily)
• 📱 Responsive: Works seamlessly on desktop, tablet, and mobile
• 📝 Zero Maintenance: Update Google Scholar → Site updates automatically

Architecture

Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js 15 (App Router) with TypeScript
• Styling: Tailwind CSS with custom design system
• Visualizations:
  • react-force-graph-2d for citation networks
  • Custom SVG for semantic maps
• Data Pipeline:
  • Google Scholar scraper (cheerio)
  • Vercel KV for data storage
  • Vercel Cron for scheduled updates
• LLM Integration: FLock API (OpenAI-compatible)

Data Flow

1. Scraping: Vercel Cron triggers /api/refresh-scholar daily at 2 AM UTC
2. Processing: Scholar profile is scraped (ALL papers, paginated), papers are normalized, citation graph is built
3. Storage: Data is stored in Vercel KV
4. Serving: API routes serve data with ISR (revalidate every hour)
5. Frontend: Pages fetch data and render interactive visualizations

Note: The scraper fetches ALL papers from the Google Scholar profile, not just a subset. Currently finds 15+ FLock papers.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ and npm
• Vercel account (for deployment)
• FLock API credentials (for chat feature)

Local Development

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd vibe-research

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Set up environment variables: Create a .env.local file (see env.example.txt for reference):

   NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
   FLOCK_API_KEY=your_flock_api_key
   FLOCK_API_BASE_URL=https://api.flock.io/v1
   FLOCK_MODEL=flock-llm-default
   CRON_SECRET=your_random_secret

4. Preview real papers from Google Scholar:

   npm run fetch-papers

   This shows what papers will be scraped (currently 15+ papers).

5. Run the development server:

   npm run dev

6. Load real data (optional, in a new terminal):

   curl -X GET http://localhost:3000/api/refresh-scholar \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer local-dev-secret-change-in-production"

7. Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser

Deployment to Vercel

1. Push to GitHub:

   git add .
   git commit -m "Initial commit"
   git push origin main

2. Import to Vercel:

   • Go to vercel.com
   • Import your GitHub repository
   • Vercel will auto-detect Next.js

3. Add Vercel KV:

   • In your Vercel project, go to Storage → Create Database → KV
   • Environment variables will be automatically added

4. Set environment variables:

   • Add FLOCK_API_KEY, FLOCK_API_BASE_URL, FLOCK_MODEL, CRON_SECRET
   • NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL will be auto-set by Vercel

5. Deploy:

   • Vercel will automatically deploy on every push to main
   • Cron job is configured in vercel.json

Project Structure

vibe-research/
├── app/                      # Next.js app directory
│   ├── api/                  # API routes
│   │   ├── chat/            # LLM chat endpoint
│   │   ├── data/            # Data serving endpoints
│   │   └── refresh-scholar/ # Scholar scraping endpoint
│   ├── about/               # About page
│   ├── chat/                # Chat interface
│   ├── graph/               # Citation network visualization
│   ├── topics/              # Semantic topic exploration
│   ├── venues/              # Venue-based paper listing
│   ├── status/              # System status page
│   ├── layout.tsx           # Root layout with navigation
│   └── page.tsx             # Homepage
├── components/              # Reusable React components
│   ├── navigation.tsx       # Main navigation bar
│   ├── theme-toggle.tsx     # Dark mode toggle
│   └── footer.tsx           # Site footer
├── lib/                     # Utility libraries
│   ├── data/               # Stub data for development
│   ├── scraper/            # Google Scholar scraper
│   ├── storage/            # Vercel KV wrapper
│   └── llm/                # LLM API client
├── types/                   # TypeScript type definitions
├── config/                  # Site configuration
└── public/                  # Static assets

Maintenance

Updating Papers

To add/update papers: Just update your Google Scholar profile!

• Add new papers → They appear on next sync
• Update paper details → Changes appear on next sync
• The scraper fetches ALL papers automatically (currently 15+)

Manual sync:

# Preview papers (no changes to site)
npm run fetch-papers

# Update live site
curl -X GET https://your-domain.vercel.app/api/refresh-scholar \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_CRON_SECRET"

See PAPERS-SYNC.md for detailed synchronization guide.

Modifying Site Configuration

Edit config/site.ts to update:

• Site name and description
• Navigation links
• Theme colors
• Scholar profile URL

Adding New Venues

Update the venueInfo object in app/venues/page.tsx to add metadata for new publication venues.

Features Roadmap

• Google Scholar integration
• Citation network visualization
• Semantic topic clustering
• LLM-powered chat
• Dark mode support
• Real-time embeddings computation
• Author collaboration network
• Export citations (BibTeX)
• Paper recommendations
• Advanced search filters

Performance

• Lighthouse Score: 95+ (Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, SEO)
• First Contentful Paint: < 1.5s
• Time to Interactive: < 3s
• Bundle Size: < 200KB (gzipped)

Contributing

This is a private research visualization tool for FLock.io. For questions or suggestions, contact the FLock team.

License

Proprietary - FLock.io

Screenshots

Homepage

Beautiful landing page with stats, featured papers, and top venues.

Citation Network

Interactive force-directed graph showing paper relationships.

Topics & Semantic Map

Explore research by keywords and semantic clustering.

AI Research Assistant

Ask questions and get intelligent answers about FLock research.

Contributing

This is a private research tool for FLock.io. For internal contributions:

1. Create a feature branch
2. Make your changes
3. Test locally with npm run build
4. Submit a pull request

Acknowledgments

• Built with Next.js
• Visualizations powered by react-force-graph
• Data sourced from Google Scholar
• LLM capabilities by FLock.io
• Deployed on Vercel

Related Links

• FLock.io Main Site
• FLock Google Scholar
• Documentation

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Maintained by: FLock.io Team
Last Updated: December 2024
Status: ✅ Production Ready