news - News Reporter Agent

A multi-modal, conversational news agent that delivers news via both a web interface and phone calls.
It uses FastAPI, Streamlit, CrewAI, Whisper, and gTTS, and can be accessed through a web browser or by calling an Asterisk-powered phone line.

Features

• Web Frontend: Streamlit app for interactive news browsing and querying.
• Conversational Phone Agent: Call a SIP number and interact with the news agent using your voice.
• Category & Query News: Get top headlines by category or ask for news on any topic.
• AI-Powered Summaries: CrewAI agents generate professional, broadcast-style news summaries.
• Keyword Extraction: An AI agent extracts keywords from user queries for more relevant news retrieval.
• Voice Transcription & Synthesis: Uses Whisper for speech-to-text and gTTS for text-to-speech.

Setup

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/pratham-exe/news.git
cd news

2. Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• Asterisk (for SIP/phone call integration)
• ffmpeg (for audio conversion)
• A NewsAPI API key (for fetching news)
• GROQ API key (for CrewAI LLM integration)
• A SIP client (e.g., Zoiper, Linphone, MizuDroid) for testing phone calls

3. Install Python Packages

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the backend directory with:

NEWS_API_KEY=your_newsapi_key
GROQ_API_KEY=your_groq_api_key
RECORD_PATH=/absolute/path/to/recording.wav
VIRTUAL_ENV=/absolute/path/to/virtual/environment/bin/python3
AGI_SCRIPT=/absolute/path/to/agi.py

5. Run the Backend

cd backend
fastapi dev main.py

6. Run the Web Frontend

cd frontend
streamlit run app.py

7. Set Up Asterisk for Phone Calls

• Configure your SIP users and dialplan to point to agi.sh as an AGI script.
• Example dialplan:

exten = 1000,1,Answer()
same = n,AGI(/absolute/path/to/backend/agi.sh)
same = n,Hangup()

• Register a SIP client (Zoiper, Linphone, MizuDroid etc.) to your Asterisk server and dial the extension.

Usage

Web Interface

• Open the Streamlit app in your browser.
• Select a news category or enter a custom query.
• Click on headlines to get detailed, AI-generated summaries.

Phone Interface

• Call the configured SIP extension.
• Interact with the agent using your voice:
  • Choose category or query news.
  • Listen to headlines (with pauses and numbering).
  • Say a number to get more details.
  • Say "back" to return to the main menu.

How It Works

• FastAPI Backend: Handles all news fetching, keyword extraction, and summary generation.
• CrewAI Agents:
  • explainer_agent: Summarizes news articles in a professional style.
  • keyword_extractor_agent: Extracts keywords from user queries for precise news search.
• AGI Script:
  • Handles phone call logic, voice prompts, and interaction flow.
  • Uses Whisper for speech-to-text and gTTS+ffmpeg for text-to-speech.
• Streamlit Frontend:
  • Provides a user-friendly web interface for browsing and querying news.