- an [Astra](https://astra.datastax.com) Vector Database (free tier is fine!). **You need a [Database Administrator token](https://awesome-astra.github.io/docs/pages/astra/create-token/#c-procedure)**, in particular the string starting with `AstraCS:...`;
- likewise, get your [Database ID](https://awesome-astra.github.io/docs/pages/astra/faq/#where-should-i-find-a-database-identifier) ready, you will have to enter it below;
- an **OpenAI API Key**. (More info [here](https://cassio.org/start_here/#llm-access), note that out-of-the-box this demo supports OpenAI unless you tinker with the code.)
_Note:_ you can alternatively use a regular Cassandra cluster: to do so, make sure you provide the `USE_CASSANDRA_CLUSTER` entry as shown in `.env.template` and the subsequent environment variables to specify how to connect to it.
LangSmith will help us trace, monitor and debug LangChain applications.
LangSmith is currently in private beta, you can sign up [here](https://smith.langchain.com/).
If you don't have access, you can skip this section
```shell
export LANGCHAIN_TRACING_V2=true
export LANGCHAIN_API_KEY=<your-api-key>
export LANGCHAIN_PROJECT=<your-project> # if not specified, defaults to "default"
```
If you are inside this directory, then you can spin up a LangServe instance directly by:
```shell
langchain serve
```
This will start the FastAPI app with a server is running locally at
[http://localhost:8000](http://localhost:8000)
We can see all templates at [http://127.0.0.1:8000/docs](http://127.0.0.1:8000/docs)
We can access the playground at [http://127.0.0.1:8000/cassandra-synonym-caching/playground](http://127.0.0.1:8000/cassandra-synonym-caching/playground)