Adding EmptyDocsError failover to gen_answer (#1073)

Author: jamesbraza

src/paperqa/agents/tools.py

@@ -309,6 +309,9 @@ async def gen_answer(self, state: EnvironmentState) -> str:
         Args:
             state: Current state.
         """
+        if not state.docs.docs:
+            raise EmptyDocsError("Not generating an answer due to having no papers.")
+
         logger.info(f"Generating answer for '{state.session.question}'.")
 
         if f"{self.TOOL_FN_NAME}_initialized" in self.settings.agent.callbacks:

src/paperqa/docs.py

@@ -742,7 +742,7 @@ async def aquery(
         contexts = session.contexts
         if answer_config.get_evidence_if_no_contexts and not contexts:
             session = await self.aget_evidence(
-                session,
+                query=session,
                 callbacks=callbacks,
                 settings=settings,
                 embedding_model=embedding_model,

tests/test_agents.py

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 from functools import wraps
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import cast
-from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, patch
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock, patch
 from uuid import uuid4
 
 import ldp.agent
@@ -467,15 +467,27 @@ async def llm_model_call(*args, **kwargs):
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_timeout(agent_test_settings: Settings, agent_type: str | type) -> None:
     agent_test_settings.prompts.pre = None
-    agent_test_settings.agent.timeout = 0.001
+    agent_test_settings.agent.timeout = 0.05  # Give time for Environment.reset()
     agent_test_settings.llm = "gpt-4o-mini"
     agent_test_settings.agent.tool_names = {"gen_answer", "complete"}
-    response = await agent_query(
-        query="Are COVID-19 vaccines effective?",
-        settings=agent_test_settings,
-        agent_type=agent_type,
-    )
-    # ensure that GenerateAnswerTool was called
+    docs = Docs()
+
+    async def custom_aget_evidence(*_, **kwargs) -> PQASession:  # noqa: RUF029
+        return kwargs["query"]
+
+    with (
+        patch.object(docs, "docs", {"stub_key": MagicMock(spec_set=Doc)}),
+        patch.multiple(
+            Docs, clear_docs=MagicMock(), aget_evidence=custom_aget_evidence
+        ),
+    ):
+        response = await agent_query(
+            query="Are COVID-19 vaccines effective?",
+            settings=agent_test_settings,
+            docs=docs,
+            agent_type=agent_type,
+        )
+    # Ensure that GenerateAnswerTool was called in truncation's failover
     assert response.status == AgentStatus.TRUNCATED, "Agent did not timeout"
     assert CANNOT_ANSWER_PHRASE in response.session.answer