LibreChat was my favorite open source frontend/backend for interacting with LLMs. I know ClickHouse says it will stay that way but I find this acquisition odd to say the least. The overlap seems tenuous at best and I worry this will be abandoned along the way. I hope I'm wrong but the whole thing just is odd, a database acquiring an open source AI tool?
Ryadh from ClickHouse here, happy to answers questions if folks have any.
So, why this move ?
Basically, we noticed that the existing "agentic" open-source ecosystem is primarily focused on developer tools and SDKs, as developers are the early adopters who build the foundation for emerging technologies. Current projects provide frameworks, orchestration, and integrations The idea behind the Agentic Data Stack is a higher-level integration to provide a composable software stack for agentic analytics that users can setup quicky, with room for customization.
Cool so your bet is that chat is essentially the new interface for BI... or ad hoc analytical inquiry... which opens up more dynamic BI... instead of asking an analyst in a slack conversation who then goes and runs a bunch of data pulls and munging, it's all handled agentically and a response is brought back to the user.. one thing is for sure: Tableau needs to be disrupted so happy to watch this one play out!
This is really cool; does this mean Danny gets a salary to work on his open source project; would you consider this a "sponsorship" or would he have other jobs within ClickHouse / have a manager etc?
> The idea behind the Agentic Data Stack is a higher-level integration to provide a composable software stack for agentic analytics that users can setup quicky, with room for customization.
I agree with this. For those who have been programming with LLM, the difference between something working and not working can be a simple "sentence" conveying the required context. I strongly believe data enrichment will be one of the main ways we can make agents more effective and efficient. Data enrichment is the foundation for my personal assistant feature https://github.com/gitsense/chat/blob/main/packages/chat/wid...
Basically instead of having agents blindly grep for things, you would provide them with analyzers that they can use to search with. By making it dead simple for domain experts to extract 'business logic' from their codebase/data, we can solve a lot of problems, much more efficiently. Since data is the key, I can see why ClickHouse will make this move since they probably want to become the storage for all business logic.
Note: I will be dropping a massive update to how my tool generates and analyzes metadata this week, so don't read too much into the demo or if you decide to play with it. I haven't really been promoting it because the flow hasn't been right, but it should be this week.
My biggest question and concern is whether or not LibreChat will end up introducing the SSO tax or other "enterprise tier" features. Is this something you can speak on?
Of course they wouldn’t announce acquisition and a license change at the same time but this is obviously the beginning of the end.
See Hashicorp and Elasticsearch for the same old story.
Luckily these kinds of products are a dime a dozen, ie zero technical complexity and there are so many similar projects already out there. Hell you can even vibe code this kind of project.
As a LibreChat user, I'm concerned. I've seen open source projects get acquired like that, and very soon they start to have some kind of paid features, telemetry, etc. Might have to start looking for alternatives soon.
At its simplest the team who was building that rad thing called LibreChat, now works at ClickHouse and build that rad thing called LibreChat.
Even simpler, the LibreChat team works at ClickHouse and are now my colleagues.
More complex, acquisitions can take a variety of "forms"...most importantly in these scenarios (and now I speak without knowledge of the deal structure) is making sure the team is paid, that copyright/trademark stuff is worked out, that OSS plans are discussed, and that everyone is excited to work together.
[+] [-] joshstrange|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] tylerhannan|4 months ago|reply
Rather, people have to ask questions of it, and interact with the data. Increasingly, that is via AI tooling.
We've had a long-standing demo at llm.clickhouse.com (librechat, bedrock, anthropic).
(disclaimer: work at ClickHouse)
[+] [-] elaus|4 months ago|reply
I too have LibreChat deployed for my personal use and now the only question is how long until it will inevitably be enshittified/monetized.
Must feel even worse for volunteers who worked on the project but don't get any benefit from the aquisition.
[+] [-] ryadh|4 months ago|reply
So, why this move ?
Basically, we noticed that the existing "agentic" open-source ecosystem is primarily focused on developer tools and SDKs, as developers are the early adopters who build the foundation for emerging technologies. Current projects provide frameworks, orchestration, and integrations The idea behind the Agentic Data Stack is a higher-level integration to provide a composable software stack for agentic analytics that users can setup quicky, with room for customization.
[+] [-] redwood|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] yawnxyz|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] sdesol|4 months ago|reply
> The idea behind the Agentic Data Stack is a higher-level integration to provide a composable software stack for agentic analytics that users can setup quicky, with room for customization.
I agree with this. For those who have been programming with LLM, the difference between something working and not working can be a simple "sentence" conveying the required context. I strongly believe data enrichment will be one of the main ways we can make agents more effective and efficient. Data enrichment is the foundation for my personal assistant feature https://github.com/gitsense/chat/blob/main/packages/chat/wid...
Basically instead of having agents blindly grep for things, you would provide them with analyzers that they can use to search with. By making it dead simple for domain experts to extract 'business logic' from their codebase/data, we can solve a lot of problems, much more efficiently. Since data is the key, I can see why ClickHouse will make this move since they probably want to become the storage for all business logic.
Note: I will be dropping a massive update to how my tool generates and analyzes metadata this week, so don't read too much into the demo or if you decide to play with it. I haven't really been promoting it because the flow hasn't been right, but it should be this week.
[+] [-] tedivm|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] afavour|4 months ago|reply
- LibreChat remains 100% open-source under its existing MIT license
- Community-first development continues with the same transparency and openness
of course, no binding commitment to any of that in the long term.
[+] [-] saberience|4 months ago|reply
See Hashicorp and Elasticsearch for the same old story.
Luckily these kinds of products are a dime a dozen, ie zero technical complexity and there are so many similar projects already out there. Hell you can even vibe code this kind of project.
[+] [-] tuhgdetzhh|4 months ago|reply
Within the next few years, it will introduce an additional enterprise edition, a SaaS offering, or a change in licensing terms.
[+] [-] zerof1l|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] saberience|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] Computer0|4 months ago|reply
I hope the librechat dev got a nice payout, I've been selfhosting for about a year.
[+] [-] tylerhannan|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] ofrzeta|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] tylerhannan|4 months ago|reply
At its simplest the team who was building that rad thing called LibreChat, now works at ClickHouse and build that rad thing called LibreChat.
Even simpler, the LibreChat team works at ClickHouse and are now my colleagues.
More complex, acquisitions can take a variety of "forms"...most importantly in these scenarios (and now I speak without knowledge of the deal structure) is making sure the team is paid, that copyright/trademark stuff is worked out, that OSS plans are discussed, and that everyone is excited to work together.
[+] [-] swyx|4 months ago|reply
open source means you have a license to freely use and commercialize it. not that it has no owners.
[+] [-] righthand|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] heyaco|4 months ago|reply
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[+] [-] fishgoesblub|4 months ago|reply
[0] https://libera.chat/
[+] [-] arccy|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] tylerhannan|4 months ago|reply
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