# RECON × Kiwix — ZIM Integration Design (v2)

**Status:** Draft v2 (corrected post-stress-test)  
**Date:** 2026-04-16  
**Depends on:** RECON v1.0.0 (master, CT 130)

---

## 1. Goal

Integrate Kiwix into RECON as a first-class knowledge source. Users manage ZIM files through the RECON dashboard — uploading directly or pulling from the Kiwix catalog. Kiwix-serve provides a browsable web interface for all loaded ZIMs. RECON detects new ZIMs and runs tiered ingestion: classifying the source, extracting articles via python-libzim, generating metadata, and embedding into Qdrant for Aurora semantic search.

**Future portable deployment:** The full system is built on CT 130/cortex. A stripped-down offline copy (dense-only, reduced dimensions, int8 quantization) will later be packaged for a Raspberry Pi 5 8GB with 512GB NVMe. This is a future packaging exercise — design decisions should not block it, but we build for full capability first.

---

## 2. Where Everything Lives

All on CT 130 (192.168.1.130), running as `zvx`.

| Component | Location |
|-----------|----------|
| kiwix-serve | Installed via Kiwix PPA (`ppa:kiwixteam/release`) or Docker (`ghcr.io/kiwix/kiwix-serve:3.8.2`). **NOT `apt install kiwix-tools`** — Ubuntu 24.04 ships 3.5.0 (2023), missing required OPDS v2 endpoints. Need ≥3.7.0. |
| kiwix-manage | Same package as kiwix-serve. Note: may be deprecated in favor of directory-serving in future libkiwix versions. Design for both. |
| ZIM file storage | `/mnt/kiwix/` (separate bind-mount from data host `/mnt/data/kiwix/`, same SSD as library but NOT inside library — library is curated human-browsable PDFs) |
| Kiwix library XML | `/mnt/kiwix/library.xml` (auto-managed, treat as legacy intermediate) |
| ZIM tracking DB | `recon.db` (new tables, see §6) |
| Ingestion code | `/opt/recon/lib/zim_pipeline.py` (new module) |
| Dashboard UI | `recon.echo6.co` (new Kiwix management page) |

---

## 3. Service Architecture

### 3.1 kiwix-serve (browsing + OPDS catalog)

Runs as a companion systemd unit. Provides:
- **Web browsing UI** for all loaded ZIMs (Wikipedia, Stack Exchange, etc. — fully browsable with images if using `_maxi` variants)
- **OPDS v2 catalog** at `/catalog/v2/entries` for RECON to enumerate loaded ZIMs
- **Keyword search** via `/search` endpoint (HTML/XML only — **no JSON support exists**)

```
kiwix-serve --library /mnt/kiwix/library.xml \
            --port 8430 \
            --address 0.0.0.0 \
            --threads 4 \
            --nodatealias \
            --blockexternal
```

- Bound to 0.0.0.0 — browsable from the local network (kiwix.echo6.co or similar)
- Port 8430 (next to RECON dashboard on 8420)
- `--blockexternal` prevents outbound link navigation from served content
- **NO `--monitorLibrary`** — documented bugs (zombie processes, high CPU). Use SIGHUP on demand: when RECON adds a new ZIM, it sends `kill -HUP <pid>` to trigger library reload.

### 3.2 python-libzim (article extraction)

kiwix-serve is for **browsing only**. All RAG article extraction uses `python-libzim` (PyPI package `libzim` v3.9.0) directly. This is faster, gives full control over filtering, and avoids the no-JSON problem with kiwix-serve's search API.

Key API patterns:
```python
from libzim.reader import Archive

zim = Archive("path/to/file.zim")

# Reliable article count (NOT zim.article_count which is inflated 2-3×):
counter_meta = zim.get_metadata("Counter").decode()
# Returns: "text/html=6467891;image/webp=3211054;text/css=23"
html_count = parse_counter(counter_meta)["text/html"]

# ZIM metadata:
title = zim.get_metadata("Title").decode()
description = zim.get_metadata("Description").decode()
language = zim.get_metadata("Language").decode()

# Article iteration:
for i in range(zim.entry_count):
    entry = zim._get_entry_by_id(i)
    if entry.is_redirect:
        continue
    item = entry.get_item()
    if item.mimetype != "text/html":  # mimetype is on Item, not Entry
        continue
    content = bytes(item.content)
    # process content...
```

**Important:** Modern ZIMs (2022+) use the "new namespace scheme" — flat paths, no `A/`/`I/`/`M/` prefixes. Do not use `iter_by_namespace('A')`.

### 3.3 RECON ZIM Monitor Daemon

New thread in `recon.service` (daemon #8). Polls kiwix-serve's OPDS catalog (`/catalog/v2/entries`) every 60 seconds, compares against `zim_sources` table in `recon.db`, and queues new ZIMs for ingestion. Also detects removed ZIMs.

**Do not trust OPDS `articleCount`** — it's inflated 2-3× for large ZIMs. Use python-libzim's `Counter` metadata for accurate counts after detection.

---

## 4. ZIM Acquisition (How ZIMs Get In)

### 4.1 Direct Upload

User uploads a `.zim` file through the RECON dashboard. Dashboard saves to `/mnt/kiwix/`, runs `kiwix-manage library.xml add <file.zim>`, sends SIGHUP to kiwix-serve. ZIM monitor detects on next poll.

### 4.2 Catalog Pull

RECON dashboard exposes a "Browse Kiwix Catalog" page. Queries public OPDS catalog at `https://library.kiwix.org/catalog/v2/entries` with filters (lang, category, search). **Response is Atom XML only** — no JSON. User picks a ZIM, confirms, RECON downloads via torrent (preferred for large files) or direct HTTP to `/mnt/kiwix/`.

### 4.3 ZIM Variant Strategy

| Variant | Content | Use Case |
|---------|---------|----------|
| `_maxi` | Full text + all images | Browsing via kiwix-serve. Plan for this as default. |
| `_nopic` | Full text, no images | RAG-only (if disk constrained). ~50% smaller. |
| `_mini` | Intro + infobox only | Not useful for RAG. |

**Start small.** Prove the pipeline with Wikivoyage, iFixit, or a focused Stack Exchange before tackling Wikipedia. Stack ZIMs and monitor storage/RAM budget as you go.

---

## 5. Tiered Ingestion Pipeline

When the ZIM monitor detects a new ZIM, it:

1. **Reads ZIM metadata** via python-libzim (`Counter`, `Title`, `Description`, `Language`, `Tags`, `Name`)
2. **Classifies the source** based on ZIM name/tag patterns
3. **Routes to the appropriate tier**
4. **Samples first** if the source is unknown (see §5.4)

### 5.1 Tier 1 — Known Large Sources (Deterministic Extractors)

**Trigger:** Known source name patterns, any article count  
**Enrichment:** None — structural metadata from HTML  
**Cost:** Zero  

| ZIM Pattern | Domain/Subdomain | Metadata Source |
|-------------|-----------------|-----------------|
| `wikipedia_*` | Reference/Wikipedia | Title, categories, infobox fields, section headings |
| `wiktionary_*` | Reference/Wiktionary | Word, part of speech, definitions |
| `wikibooks_*` | Reference/Wikibooks | Book title, chapter, subject |
| `wikisource_*` | Reference/Wikisource | Work title, author, year |
| `wikiversity_*` | Reference/Wikiversity | Course, subject area |
| `wikivoyage_*` | Reference/Wikivoyage | Destination, region, travel topic |
| `stack_exchange_*` | Reference/StackExchange | Tags, vote score, accepted answer flag |
| `devdocs_*` | Reference/DevDocs | Language, framework, API |
| `ifixit_*` | Maintenance/Repair | Device, category, difficulty |

### 5.2 Tier 2 — Unknown Mid/Large Sources (Local Qwen3 Enrichment)

**Trigger:** >10K articles AND no Tier 1 extractor match  
**Enrichment:** Local Ollama Qwen3 8B (`aurora` model)  
**Cost:** Zero (cortex compute time only)  

Lightweight prompt per article → JSON with domain, subdomain, summary, keywords.

### 5.3 Tier 3 — Small Unknown Sources (Gemini Enrichment)

**Trigger:** ≤10K articles AND no Tier 1 extractor match  
**Enrichment:** Gemini API (existing RECON enrichment pipeline)  
**Cost:** Low (small article count, few dollars max)  

### 5.4 The Gate — Unknown Source Review

When a ZIM doesn't match any Tier 1 pattern AND exceeds Tier 3 threshold:

1. Extract random sample of 50 articles
2. Log to review queue in `recon.db`
3. Dashboard notification: *"New ZIM: obscure_wiki.zim — 47,832 articles — no known extractor — sample ready"*
4. Ingestion **paused** until user reviews and approves
5. User can: approve for Tier 2, assign domain/subdomain, reject, or write a new extractor

---

## 6. Database Schema

New tables in `/opt/recon/data/recon.db`:

### zim_sources
```sql
CREATE TABLE zim_sources (
    id              INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    zim_filename    TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
    zim_path        TEXT NOT NULL,
    zim_uuid        TEXT,
    title           TEXT,
    description     TEXT,
    language        TEXT,
    category        TEXT,
    article_count   INTEGER DEFAULT 0,      -- from Counter metadata, NOT OPDS
    ingestion_tier  INTEGER,
    status          TEXT DEFAULT 'detected', -- detected|sampling|review|ingesting|complete|error|rejected
    processed_count INTEGER DEFAULT 0,
    skipped_count   INTEGER DEFAULT 0,
    error_count     INTEGER DEFAULT 0,
    domain          TEXT,
    subdomain       TEXT,
    detected_at     TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    started_at      TIMESTAMP,
    completed_at    TIMESTAMP,
    last_checkpoint TEXT
);
```

### zim_samples
```sql
CREATE TABLE zim_samples (
    id              INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    zim_source_id   INTEGER REFERENCES zim_sources(id),
    article_path    TEXT NOT NULL,
    article_title   TEXT,
    text_preview    TEXT,
    metadata_json   TEXT,
    created_at      TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);
```

### zim_articles
```sql
CREATE TABLE zim_articles (
    id              INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    zim_source_id   INTEGER REFERENCES zim_sources(id),
    article_path    TEXT NOT NULL,
    article_title   TEXT,
    qdrant_point_ids TEXT,
    status          TEXT DEFAULT 'pending', -- pending|embedded|skipped|error
    processed_at    TIMESTAMP,
    UNIQUE(zim_source_id, article_path)
);
```

---

## 7. Article Processing Pipeline

```
ZIM Entry
  ├─ Is redirect? ────────────────────► SKIP
  ├─ mimetype != text/html? ──────────► SKIP
  ├─ Clean text < 200 chars? ─────────► SKIP (stub)
  ▼
HTML → Clean Text (lxml, not BeautifulSoup — 10× faster)
  ▼
Metadata Extraction (per tier)
  ▼
Chunking (~512 tokens, ~50 token overlap)
  ▼
Embedding (bge-m3 dense + sparse via cortex:8090/8091)
  ▼
Qdrant Upsert → recon_knowledge_hybrid
  Payload: source_type, zim_file, zim_source_id, article_title,
           article_path, domain, subdomain, chunk_index, 
           total_chunks, keywords, language
  ▼
Checkpoint (update zim_articles + zim_sources.processed_count)
```

### Batching & Backpressure
- Batch size: 100 articles (configurable)
- Sleep between batches: 1s (configurable)
- ZIM ingestion runs at lower priority than real-time PDF/stream processing
- Progress logging every 1000 articles
- Resumable via `last_checkpoint`
- **Sparse upserts are slower** — known issue where on-disk sparse indexing progressively degrades. Budget for this.

### Realistic Scale Estimates

| ZIM | Articles | Est. Chunks | Embedding Time (RTX 3090) |
|-----|----------|-------------|---------------------------|
| Appropedia EN | ~30K | ~60K | ~10 min |
| iFixit EN | ~90K | ~180K | ~25 min |
| Stack Overflow | ~500K | ~1.5M | ~3.5 hr |
| Wikipedia EN nopic | ~5M (non-stub) | ~10M | ~24 hr |
| Wikipedia EN maxi | Same text, +images | ~10M | ~24 hr (same — images not embedded) |

---

## 8. Systemd Integration

```ini
# /etc/systemd/system/kiwix.service
[Unit]
Description=Kiwix-serve for RECON
After=network.target
PartOf=recon.service

[Service]
User=zvx
ExecStart=/usr/bin/kiwix-serve \
    --library /mnt/kiwix/library.xml \
    --port 8430 \
    --address 0.0.0.0 \
    --threads 4 \
    --nodatealias \
    --blockexternal
ExecReload=kill -HUP $MAINPID
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```

Reload after adding ZIM: `systemctl reload kiwix`

---

## 9. Pre-Implementation Checks

Before writing any code:

1. **Verify cortex:8091 sparse embeddings** — If it's running TEI or Infinity, sparse vectors may be silently broken (dense-only output). Only native FlagEmbedding supports bge-m3 sparse. This affects the entire existing RECON pipeline, not just Kiwix.

2. **Check Qdrant upgrade path** — If Qdrant needs upgrading, must go stepwise: 1.14 → 1.15 → 1.16. Direct jumps corrupt data.

3. **Check cortex RAM** — Determines whether 10-30M additional vectors need quantization config changes.

---

## 10. Implementation Phases

### Phase 1 — Foundation
- Install kiwix-tools via PPA on CT 130
- Create `/mnt/kiwix/` directory (owned by zvx)
- Set up kiwix.service systemd unit
- Create DB schema
- Download a small test ZIM (Appropedia EN — ~495MB maxi)
- Register via kiwix-manage, verify browsable at port 8430
- Implement ZIM monitor daemon (OPDS poll → zim_sources)

### Phase 2 — Extraction & Embedding Pipeline
- Implement python-libzim article extraction with lxml
- Implement article filtering (redirects, stubs, non-HTML)
- Implement chunking (reuse existing RECON logic)
- Implement embedding + Qdrant upsert with ZIM payload schema
- Implement checkpointing and resume
- Implement Tier 1 Wikipedia extractor as proof of concept
- End-to-end test with Appropedia

### Phase 3 — Tiered Enrichment & Gate
- Tier 2 local Qwen3 enrichment path
- Tier 3 Gemini enrichment routing
- Source classification and routing logic
- Review gate (sampling, dashboard notification)
- Test with an unknown ZIM

### Phase 4 — Dashboard UI
- Kiwix library page (loaded ZIMs, status, progress)
- Upload ZIM form
- Catalog browser (OPDS query + download)
- Review queue
- Stats integration

### Phase 5 — Scale Up
- Additional Tier 1 extractors (Stack Exchange, DevDocs, iFixit)
- Wikipedia EN (start with nopic, upgrade to maxi when confident)
- ZIM version management (replace old vectors when new ZIM version arrives)

---

## 11. Open Questions

1. **ZIM version dedup** — When `wikipedia_en_2026-06.zim` replaces `wikipedia_en_2026-03.zim`, purge old vectors by `zim_source_id` filter + delete, then re-embed. Atomic cutover or incremental?

2. **Qdrant collection strategy** — Same `recon_knowledge_hybrid` collection, or separate `recon_kiwix_hybrid`? Same collection means unified search. Separate means independent scaling but requires query fanout.

3. **Pi deployment packaging** — Future exercise. Dense-only, Matryoshka 256-dim, int8 quant. ~3.8GB RAM for 15M vectors. Proven viable, not designed yet.