HF_TOKEN_SETUP.md

🔑 How to Add HuggingFace Token to Your Space

The AlgoSpeak AI app needs a HuggingFace token to access the Mistral-7B model for better translation quality.

Why do I need this?

• Without token: Uses Google Flan-T5 (smaller, limited quality)
• With token: Uses Mistral-7B (better understanding, higher quality)

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Create a HuggingFace Access Token

1. Go to HuggingFace Settings → Tokens
2. Click "New token"
3. Give it a name like algospeak-space
4. Select permission: Read (sufficient for inference)
5. Click "Generate"
6. Copy the token (you won't see it again!)

2. Add Token as Secret to Your Space

1. Go to your Space: https://huggingface.co/spaces/Veronyka/algospeak
2. Click on "Settings" tab (⚙️)
3. Scroll to "Repository secrets" section
4. Click "New secret"
5. Fill in:
   • Name: HF_TOKEN
   • Value: Paste your token here
6. Click "Add secret"

3. Restart Your Space

1. Go to "Settings" → "Factory reboot"
2. Or just wait ~1 minute for automatic restart

4. Verify It's Working

• The app header should now show: 🤖 Current Model: mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3
• Translations should be more contextual and higher quality

Troubleshooting

Still seeing errors?

• Check if the secret name is exactly HF_TOKEN (case-sensitive)
• Make sure your token has "Read" permission
• Try Factory reboot in Settings

Token not being used?

• The app will automatically detect the token via environment variable
• No code changes needed!

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Security Note: Secrets in HF Spaces are encrypted and not visible to visitors. Only the Space owner can see/edit them.