DeepTutor v0.5.0 Release Notes

Release Date: 2026.01.15

We're thrilled to announce DeepTutor v0.5.0! This release delivers unified service configuration, flexible RAG pipeline selection, and major UI/UX improvements across multiple modules.

Stability Update: This release fixes multiple environment configuration and stability issues. We recommend all users to pull the latest version! Remember to update your .env file!

[!TIP] Call for Issues: We welcome your feedback! If you encounter any bugs or have feature requests, please open an issue! If you would like to submit a PR, please check out our Contributing Guide.

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Quick Summary

• Configuration — Refactored config logic for smoother LLM/Embedding setup. Backend secrets stay hidden from frontend. Added more search providers.
• RAG Pipelines — Select different pipelines per KB: LlamaIndex (direct), LightRAG (graph), RAG-Anything (multimodal graph).
• Question Gen — Unified BaseAgent architecture with more intuitive UI.
• Home — Save chat history to notebooks.
• Sidebar — Drag-and-drop reordering + customizable top-left label.
• Misc — Various bug fixes and stability improvements.

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✨ Highlights

Unified Configuration System

Completely redesigned configuration management for LLM, Embedding, TTS, and Search services:

Key Features: - Environment-based secrets: Store sensitive API keys in .env while managing configurations in the UI - {"use_env": "VAR_NAME"} syntax: Reference environment variables without exposing them in the frontend - Per-service active config: Each service (LLM, Embedding, TTS, Search) maintains its own active configuration - Seamless provider switching: Add new providers in the frontend without touching backend secrets

New Search Providers: | Provider | Description | |:---|:---| | Tavily | AI-native search API | | Exa | Neural search engine | | Jina | Reader-based web search | | Serper | Google SERP API |

RAG Pipeline Selection

Choose the optimal RAG pipeline for each knowledge base based on your speed/quality requirements:

Pipeline	Index Type	Best For	Speed
LlamaIndex	Vector (Direct)	Quick setup, simple documents	Fastest
LightRAG	Knowledge Graph	General documents, text-heavy	Fast
RAG-Anything	Multimodal Graph	Academic papers, textbooks with figures/equations	Thorough

Question Generation Overhaul

Refactored the Question Generation module with unified agent architecture:

Backend Changes: - Migrated to BaseAgent pattern consistent with other modules - New specialized agents: RetrieveAgent, GenerateAgent, RelevanceAnalyzer - Single-pass generation with relevance classification (no iterative validation loops) - Improved JSON parsing with markdown code block extraction

Frontend Improvements: - Real-time progress dashboard with stage indicators - Log drawer for debugging generation process - Cleaner question card layout with answer submission - "Add to Notebook" integration

Home Page Enhancements

Save Chat to Notebook: - New "Save to Notebook" button in chat interface - Automatically formats conversation as markdown - Preserves user queries and assistant responses with role labels

Sidebar Customization

Drag-and-Drop Navigation: - Reorder sidebar items within groups by dragging - Visual feedback during drag operations - Persistent order saved to user settings

Customizable Description: - Click to edit the sidebar description label - Personalize your workspace identity

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📦 What's Changed

Core Infrastructure

• Added src/services/config/unified_config.py — Centralized configuration manager
• Added src/api/routers/config.py — Unified REST API for all service configs
• Refactored web search to support multiple providers (src/services/search/)
• Enhanced error handling with LLM error framework

RAG System

• Implemented LlamaIndexPipeline with custom embedding adapter
• Implemented pure LightRAGPipeline with complete initialization
• Added pipeline selection during KB create/upload (PR [#129])
• Factory pattern in src/services/rag/factory.py for pipeline management

Question Generation

• Refactored AgentCoordinator with specialized agents
• New RetrieveAgent, GenerateAgent, RelevanceAnalyzer in src/agents/question/agents/
• Removed iterative validation loops for faster generation
• Added useQuestionReducer hook for frontend state management

Frontend Updates

• web/app/settings/page.tsx — Complete rebuild with unified config UI
• web/app/question/page.tsx — New dashboard with progress tracking
• web/app/page.tsx — Added "Save to Notebook" functionality
• web/components/Sidebar.tsx — Drag-and-drop + editable description
• web/components/AddToNotebookModal.tsx — Reusable notebook integration

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What's Changed

• feat(kb): allow selecting RAG provider during KB create/upload by @tusharkhatriofficial in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/129
• fix(docker): make Dockerfile portable by @scrrlt in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/128
• feat: pre-commit CI integration by @scrrlt in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/126
• feat: LlamaIndex pipeline implementation by @tusharkhatriofficial in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/98
• feat: web search providers (Tavily, Exa, Jina, Serper) by @Andres77872 in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/95
• feat: Azure OpenAI support enhancement by @scrrlt in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/87
• fix: modal vertical centering by @OlalalalaO in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/117
• work: LLM error framework by @scrrlt in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/118

New Contributors

• @Andres77872 made their first contribution in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/95
• @OlalalalaO made their first contribution in https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/pull/117

Full Changelog: https://github.com/HKUDS/DeepTutor/compare/v0.4.1...v0.5.0