Pipeline Protocol/API

[spflueger]

Hi all,

I really enjoy using open-webui and recently also the pipeline functionality! Having implemented a pipeline recently and having it running got me thinking about how to further approve this. I'm mainly thinking about two points:

1. The development and maintenance of pipelines. It would nice to have a python Protocol/ABC of Valves and Pipelines for typing support and also have a clear interface definition.
2. The interconnect between open-webui and pipelines. I like the idea of keeping pipelines UI agnostic, but because of that it falls a bit short in terms of UX. Or lets say this part will be much harder. More concretely I would love to have a bidirectional way of communicating with the UI (openwebui). For example in a RAG pipeline, you would want to display some messages to the user what steps are currently happening, like Searching etc..

What do ppl think about this?

Since there are so many libraries and frameworks out there to build complex AI pipelines (actual pipelines), it feels the current pipelines cannot compete here. The value in my eyes would lie in the interconnect and standardizing.