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Installation

Get started with CEF Framework in your Spring Boot application.

Prerequisites​

  • Java 17 or higher - CEF requires Java 17+ for modern language features
  • Maven 3.8+ or Gradle 7+ - Build tool for dependency management
  • Spring Boot 3.3.5+ - CEF is built on Spring Boot 3.x
  • Docker (optional) - For running infrastructure services (Ollama, PostgreSQL, etc.)

Maven Installation​

Add CEF Framework to your pom.xml:

<dependencies>
    <!-- CEF Framework Core -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.ddse.ml</groupId>
        <artifactId>cef-framework</artifactId>
        <version>beta-0.5</version>
    </dependency>
    
    <!-- Spring Boot Starter (if not already included) -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    
    <!-- Spring Boot WebFlux (for reactive support) -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-webflux</artifactId>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Gradle Installation​

Add to your build.gradle:

dependencies {
    implementation 'org.ddse.ml:cef-framework:beta-0.5'
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter'
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-webflux'
}

Infrastructure Setup​

Option 1: Quick Start with DuckDB (Embedded)​

No external services needed! CEF comes with DuckDB embedded database:

# application.yml
cef:
  database:
    type: duckdb
    duckdb:
      path: ./data/cef.duckdb
  
  llm:
    default-provider: ollama
    ollama:
      base-url: http://localhost:11434
      model: llama3.2:3b

Start Ollama for embeddings:

# Install Ollama (Mac/Linux)
curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh

# Pull embedding model
ollama pull nomic-embed-text

# Start Ollama service (runs on port 11434)
ollama serve

Option 2: Persistent Setup with PostgreSQL (Experimental)​

For advanced deployments with persistent storage (currently in alpha):

# Start PostgreSQL with pgvector extension
docker run -d \
  --name cef-postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=cef_password \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=cef_user \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=cef_db \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  pgvector/pgvector:pg16

Configure CEF:

# application.yml
cef:
  database:
    type: postgresql
    postgresql:
      enabled: true
      host: localhost
      port: 5432
      database: cef_db
      username: cef_user
      password: cef_password
  
  vector:
    store: postgres
    dimension: 768

Option 3: Docker Compose (All Services)​

Use the provided docker-compose.yml:

# Clone CEF repository
git clone https://github.com/ddse-foundation/cef.git
cd cef

# Start all services
docker-compose up -d

# Check status
docker-compose ps

Services included:

  • Ollama (localhost:11434) - Embeddings and LLM
  • PostgreSQL (localhost:5432) - Database with pgvector
  • MinIO (localhost:9000) - Optional object storage

Verify Installation​

Create a simple Spring Boot application:

package com.example.cef;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication
public class CefDemoApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(CefDemoApplication.class, args);
    }
}

Run the application:

mvn spring-boot:run

Check logs for successful initialization:

INFO  o.d.ml.cef.config.CefAutoConfiguration - CEF Framework initialized
INFO  o.d.ml.cef.graph.InMemoryKnowledgeGraph - JGraphT graph store ready
INFO  o.d.ml.cef.storage.DuckDBVectorStore - DuckDB vector store initialized (dimension: 768)

Next Steps​

Troubleshooting​

Port Conflicts​

If port 11434 (Ollama) or 5432 (PostgreSQL) are already in use:

cef:
  llm:
    ollama:
      base-url: http://localhost:11435  # Change port

Database Connection Issues​

Verify PostgreSQL is running:

docker logs cef-postgres

# Test connection
psql -h localhost -U cef_user -d cef_db

Embedding Model Not Found​

Pull the embedding model manually:

ollama pull nomic-embed-text:latest
ollama list  # Verify installation

More Help​