How to Deploy Your Claude RAG Assistant to the Web

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You've built your own Claude-powered RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) app. It works beautifully on your computer… but now you're ready for the next step:

🌍 Make It Public

In this guide, you’ll learn how to host your AI app on the web using Streamlit Community Cloud — a free and beginner-friendly platform that gets your app online in minutes. No servers, no stress.

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🧰 What You’ll Need

Item Purpose
GitHub account Store and share your app’s code
Streamlit Cloud account Free hosting for Streamlit apps
.env file Keep your API keys secret
requirements.txt Tell Streamlit what libraries to install
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📦 Step 1: Upload Your Code to GitHub

  1. Create a free GitHub account if you don't have one: github.com
  2. Create a new repo (e.g., claude-rag-app)
  3. Add your app files:
    • app.py
    • rag_helpers.py (if applicable)
    • requirements.txt
  4. Do NOT upload your .env file (it contains your secrets)
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📄 Step 2: Create requirements.txt

This file tells Streamlit what Python libraries to install:

streamlit
anthropic
python-dotenv
PyMuPDF
openai
faiss-cpu
tiktoken
requests

Save it as requirements.txt in your repo folder.

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🔑 Step 3: Set Your Secrets on Streamlit Cloud

  1. Visit share.streamlit.io and sign in with GitHub
  2. Click “New app”
  3. Select your repo and branch (e.g. main)
  4. In the form that appears, click “Advanced settings” → “Secrets”
  5. Paste in your secrets like this:
[general]
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "sk-ant-xxxxx"
OPENAI_API_KEY = "sk-xxxxx"

Click “Deploy” and watch your app go live!

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🔍 Step 4: Test Your Web App

Once it launches, you’ll get a link like:

https://yourname.streamlit.app

Test file uploads, typing in questions, and Claude responses. If anything breaks, check:

  • requirements.txt is up to date
  • Your API keys are set in the secret config
  • There are no Streamlit errors in the logs
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📈 Bonus: Customize Your App

  • 🎨 Add a logo or favicon
  • 📚 Include example files or docs
  • 🛠️ Add error handling (e.g. “No docs found” message)
  • 🔒 Add basic password protection (optional)
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⚡ Going Pro (Optional)

If you want to deploy your app more securely or with heavier traffic, consider:

  • 🔒 Using Streamlit Teams for private apps
  • ☁️ Hosting with Docker on platforms like Fly.io or Railway
  • 🌐 Deploying to your own server with HTTPS + custom domain
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✅ You Did It!

Now your Claude RAG Assistant is live, helpful, and available 24/7 — just share the link! You’ve gone from local prototype to working web app in record time.

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