AI Chatbot for College Website using Python Flask & Groq AI

✔ Key Features

1. 24/7 AI-powered instant responses to student queries without any human intervention
2. Built using Groq API with LLaMA 3.3-70B model — completely free, no credit card required
3. Answers questions about admissions, fees, courses, hostel, exams, placements, and events
4. Natural language understanding — students type in plain English, no commands needed
5. Responsive chat widget embeddable into any existing college website with one script tag
6. Admin panel allows non-technical staff to update FAQ content without any coding knowledge
7. Intent detection using NLP automatically classifies queries into categories for analytics
8. SQLite database logs all conversations for tracking and performance monitoring
9. Analytics dashboard shows most asked questions and unresolved query statistics
10. Mobile-friendly responsive design using Bootstrap 5 — works on phones, tablets, and desktops

⚙ Installation Guide

1. Download and install Python 3.11 from python.org/downloads — during installation make sure to check the box "Add Python to PATH" before clicking Install Now.
2. Download and install Visual Studio Code from code.visualstudio.com — this will be your code editor for viewing and editing project files.
3. Download the project ZIP file and extract it to a folder on your computer, for example C:\Users\YourName\Desktop\college-chatbot.
4. Open Command Prompt on Windows by pressing Windows Key + R, typing cmd, and pressing Enter. Then navigate to your project folder using the cd command.
5. Install all required Python packages by running the following command in Command Prompt: py -m pip install flask flask-cors groq python-dotenv — wait for all packages to finish installing.
6. Sign up for a free Groq API key by visiting console.groq.com — create a free account, go to API Keys section, click Create API Key, and copy your key.
7. In your project folder, create a new text file and rename it exactly as .env (with a dot at the beginning) — open it in Notepad and type: GROQ_API_KEY=your-groq-api-key-here replacing with your actual key, then save.
8. Open the file college_data.json in VS Code or Notepad and replace all placeholder information like college name, fees, courses, hostel details, and contact information with your actual college data.
9. Start the Flask server by running the command py app.py in Command Prompt — you should see the message CollegeBot starting on http://localhost:5000 which confirms the server is running successfully.
10. Open any web browser such as Chrome or Firefox and go to http://localhost:5000 — you will see the college website with the AI chatbot button in the bottom right corner. Click it and start asking questions to test your chatbot.