orbit
An adaptable, open-source context-aware inference engine designed for privacy, control, and independence from proprietary models.
Stars: 233
ORBIT (Open Retrieval-Based Inference Toolkit) is a middleware platform that provides a unified API for AI inference. It acts as a central gateway, allowing you to connect various local and remote AI models with your private data sources like SQL databases, vector stores, and local files. ORBIT uses a flexible adapter architecture to connect your data to AI models, creating specialized 'agents' for specific tasks. It supports scenarios like Knowledge Base Q&A and Chat with Your SQL Database, enabling users to interact with AI models seamlessly. The tool offers a RESTful API for programmatic access and includes features like authentication, API key management, system prompts, health monitoring, and file management. ORBIT is designed to streamline AI inference tasks and facilitate interactions between users and AI models.
README:
Open Retrieval-Based Inference Toolkit
Stop rewriting your app every time you switch LLMs. ORBIT unifies 20+ AI providers with your databases, vector stores, and APIs—all through one self-hosted gateway.
Ship faster. Stay portable. Keep your data private.
⭐ Help ORBIT grow: Star + watch the repo so other builders can find it and we can keep funding new adapters, tutorials, and sandbox credits.
The Problem: Building AI apps means choosing between vendor lock-in, complex integrations, and privacy concerns.
- Complex RAG: Connecting databases, vector stores, and APIs requires custom glue code
- Privacy concerns: Sending sensitive data to third-party APIs
- Fragmented tools: Different SDKs, auth methods, and APIs for each provider
The Solution: ORBIT is a self-hosted, unified gateway that gives you:
✅ Portability — Switch LLM providers with a config change, not code changes
✅ Built-in RAG — Connect SQL databases, vector stores, and APIs through natural language
✅ Full-Duplex Voice — Real-time speech-to-speech conversations with natural dynamics
✅ Data sovereignty — Keep your data on your infrastructure
✅ One API — OpenAI-compatible interface that works with any provider
✅ Production-ready — Rate limiting, security, monitoring, and fault tolerance built-in
Who it's for: Developers building AI applications who want flexibility, privacy, and control without the complexity of managing multiple integrations.
- Questions? Open an issue
- Updates: Check the changelog
- Maintained by: Schmitech.ai
Open-source traction is the fuel that keeps ORBIT's sandbox, docs, adapters, and demos free for everyone.
- ⭐ Star + watch the repo to surface ORBIT in GitHub search and get notified when a new release drops.
- ✉️ Share the sandbox or demo video with the teammate who's still wiring SDKs by hand.
- 📣 Tell us what to build next in Discussions; upvotes there help us prioritize the roadmap you care about.
- Unified API for 20+ AI providers – Swap between OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, DeepSeek, Cohere, Mistral, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, Together, xAI/Grok, and any local stack (Ollama, llama.cpp, vLLM, Hugging Face) via config only.
- Full-duplex speech-to-speech – Build voice assistants with real-time, bidirectional audio using NVIDIA's PersonaPlex integration. Natural conversations with interruptions and backchannels—no STT→LLM→TTS cascade needed.
- Adapters for every data shape – Intent + QA retrievers cover Postgres/MySQL/DuckDB/SQLite, MongoDB, Elasticsearch, HTTP APIs, and the major vector stores (Chroma, Qdrant, Pinecone, Milvus, Weaviate).
- Batteries included – Per-key RBAC, rate limits/quotas, audit logging (SQLite or MongoDB + optional Elasticsearch), content safety providers, retries/circuit breakers, and observability dashboards ship by default.
- Multimodal + widgets – Ship chat UIs via orbitchat CLI, React widget, orbit-mobile (iOS), or OpenAI-compatible API; render charts, math, and audio/video streams out of the box.
- Zero lock-in deployments – Try it in the hosted sandbox, run a Docker preset in under 60 seconds, or install the full server with TLS + GPU detection when you're ready for production.
No more glue code—connect everything through adapters and declarative config.
Inference & embeddings
- LLM providers: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini/Vertex, Groq, DeepSeek, Mistral, Cohere, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, Together, xAI, OpenRouter, IBM watsonx, plus local engines (Ollama, vLLM, llama.cpp, Hugging Face).
- Embeddings & rerankers: OpenAI, Jina, Cohere, Mistral, Ollama, llama.cpp, and any custom GGUF via the embeddings service.
- Vision/speech: Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, plus audio adapters documented in
docs/audio/. - Speech-to-speech: Full-duplex voice with PersonaPlex—real-time bidirectional audio, interruption handling, and backchannels.
Data & knowledge sources
- SQL + analytics: PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, DuckDB, SQLite, and intent-based adapters for customer schemas.
- NoSQL & search: MongoDB aggregation pipelines, Elasticsearch, Redis JSON/hashes.
- Vector stores: Chroma, Qdrant, Pinecone, Milvus, Weaviate (with QA + intent specializations).
- Files & APIs: PDF/Markdown/CSV ingestion, HTTP/REST connectors, and composite adapters that orchestrate multiple sources with guardrails.
- Infra glue: Redis caching, MongoDB or SQLite backends, optional Elasticsearch auditing.
Try the hosted ORBIT API with no setup: send a chat request and get a streaming-style response. Use the default key and any session ID for quick testing.
Request (OpenAI-compatible /v1/chat):
curl -X POST https://orbit.schmitech.ai/v1/chat \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'X-API-Key: default-key' \
-H 'X-Session-ID: test-session' \
-d '{
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, what is 2+2?"}],
"stream": false
}'Response (response holds the reply; sources and metadata are optional):
{
"response": "Sure thing! ✨ 2 + 2 equals **4**.\n\nIf you'd like, we can explore more math fun—like how addition builds the foundation for multiplication, or some cool number tricks. What's next on your curiosity list?",
"sources": [],
"metadata": {
"last_detected_language": "en",
"last_detected_language_confidence": 1.0,
"processing_time": 0.0,
"pipeline_used": true
}
}The ORBIT Sandbox offers interactive examples for adapters, prompts, and capabilities.
See the ORBIT API Reference (ReDoc) for full API docs.
docker pull schmitech/orbit:basic
docker run -d --name orbit-basic -p 5173:5173 -p 3000:3000 schmitech/orbit:basic- Auto-detects CPU/GPU via
ORBIT_PRESET=auto(override withsmollm2-1.7b-gpuor-cpu). - Includes ORBIT server, orbitchat UI, and an Ollama preset so you can chat instantly.
- More options live in docker/README.md.
- Prereqs: Python 3.12+, Node 18+, npm, and any AI-provider keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Gemini, Mistral, etc.).
- Optional deps: MongoDB, Redis, and a vector DB (Chroma, Qdrant, Pinecone, etc.).
curl -L https://github.com/schmitech/orbit/releases/download/v2.4.0/orbit-2.4.0.tar.gz -o orbit-2.4.0.tar.gz
tar -xzf orbit-2.4.0.tar.gz && cd orbit-2.4.0
cp env.example .env && ./install/setup.sh
source venv/bin/activate
./bin/orbit.sh start && cat ./logs/orbit.log- To use local models with Ollama, first install it:
curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh, then pull a model such asollama pull granite4:1bor another of your choice. - Default adapters live in
config/adapters/passthrough.yamlandconfig/adapters/multimodal.yaml; updateconfig/ollama.yamlfor model changes. - Visit
http://localhost:3000/dashboardto monitor the ORBIT server.
git clone https://github.com/schmitech/orbit.git
cd orbit && cp env.example .env
./install/setup.sh && source venv/bin/activate
./bin/orbit.sh start && ./bin/orbit.sh key create- Bring your own API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Gemini, Mistral, etc.).
- Works great with Ollama, vLLM, llama.cpp, Redis, MongoDB, and vector DBs.
- Check logs via
tail -f ./logs/orbit.logand openhttp://localhost:3000/dashboard.
-
orbit-chatCLI:pip install schmitech-orbit-client && orbit-chat --api-key <KEY> -
React web app:
npm install -g orbitchat && orbitchat --api-url http://localhost:3000 --api-key <KEY> --open - Mobile app (iOS): Native-feeling chat via orbit-mobile (React Native/Expo)—conversation list, streaming, markdown, light/dark theme.
-
Node SDK:
npm install @schmitech/chatbot-apiand stream responses in TypeScript/JavaScript apps. -
OpenAI-compatible API: Point the official
openaiPython client atbase_url="http://localhost:3000/v1"to reuse existing code.
Using the
orbit-chat CLI. Run orbit-chat -h for options.
- Installation guide
- Configuration reference
- Authentication & API keys
- RAG adapters
- Voice & audio adapters
- Roadmap
- Contributing & Code of Conduct
- Open an issue or discussion.
- Say hi on Schmitech.ai.
Apache 2.0 – see LICENSE.
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