Sentiment Analysis (Part 2): Deploying an App on Hugging Face

Deploying a Sentiment Analysis App on Hugging Face: A Comprehensive Guide with Testing and Debugging Strategies.

Bright Eshun
5 min readMay 7, 2023
source: istockphotos.com

1. Introduction

The article discusses the challenge of deploying sentiment analysis apps, which extract subjective information from text, and the benefits of using Hugging Face, an NLP platform that simplifies the deployment of NLP applications. The article provides a step-by-step guide for deploying a sentiment analysis app on Hugging Face, including preparing the app for deployment, uploading a trained model, setting up the app environment, testing and debugging, and discussing the benefits of using Hugging Face for deploying NLP applications.

2. Background

2.1 Why Hugging Face?

Hugging Face is an open-source software library that provides state-of-the-art machine learning models for natural language processing (NLP) tasks, including sentiment analysis. The library includes a wide range of pre-trained sentiment analysis models, making it easy for developers to build sentiment analysis applications without having to train models from scratch. In addition to pre-trained models, Hugging Face also provides a platform for deploying NLP applications, called Hugging Face Deployment (HFD).

2.2 Benefits of using Hugging Face for deploying ML apps

One of the main benefits of using Hugging Face for deploying sentiment analysis apps is that it simplifies the deployment process. HFD provides a user-friendly interface that allows developers to upload their trained models and deploy them to a production environment quickly. Additionally, HFD provides built-in monitoring and logging features, making it easier to track app performance and diagnose issues if they arise.

3. Deploying the App on Hugging Face

In this article we will be deploying a Gradio app but the same steps can be followed to deploy a Streamlit or a Static Html app.

To deploy your app on hugging face, follow the following steps:

Step 1: Go to Hugging Face Homepage

Kindly visit https://huggingface.co/ , navigate to spaces and click on create a new space.

Step 2: Create the spaces.

To create a space for your app on Hugging Face, give it a name, select the desired framework, and then click on “Create Space”. In this example, a Gradio app will be deployed. Instantly, Hugging Face will create a README.md file for you.

Step 3: Clone the repository

Hugging Face Spaces function like GitHub repositories and support Git commands.

To get started, navigate to the desired directory for your repository on the command line and execute the following command:

git clone https://huggingface.co/spaces/bright1/sentiment-analysis-app-gradio

In this case, run the following command on the command line in the directory where you want to clone the repository:

git clone https://huggingface.co/spaces/<username>/<space-name>

This will clone the repository from Hugging Face space as your local repository into your current working directory.

Step 4: Add your files

Navigate to your working directory and manually copy and paste your application files and requirements.txt file to your local repository.

Or:

You can run the following code:

cd <repository-directory>
cp <path-to-app.py> .
cp <path-to-requirements.txt> .

Here, <repository-directory> refers to the directory where you have cloned the repository to, and <path-to-app.py> and <path-to-requirements.txt> are the paths to your app.py and requirements.txt files respectively. The cp command is used to copy the files to your repository directory.

Step 5: Commit and push all changes to your remote repository (Spaces)

git add *
git commit -m 'Add a commit message'
git push

Once you push the files to your Hugging Face space, you should be able to see them in the “Files” tab of your space. You can also use the command git ls-files on the command line in your local repository to see the files that have been pushed to your Hugging Face space.

Hugging Face first installs all dependencies and libraries for your app from your requirements.txt file. It then starts a Docker container that runs your app. After a few minutes, your app will be up and running.

Kindly visit my sentiment analysis app on: @myhuggingfaceapp

A photo of my sentiment analysis App.

4. Testing and Debugging

As you deploy a sentiment analysis app on Hugging Face, it’s crucial to test and debug the application to ensure its effectiveness. Hugging Face Deployment offers several tools to test and debug the app, including log streaming, debugging endpoints, and health checks.

4.2 Debugging Common Issues

Some common issues that may arise during the deployment of a sentiment analysis app on Hugging Face include:

  1. Compatibility issues: The app may not be compatible with Hugging Face’s infrastructure, resulting in errors during deployment.
  2. Resource allocation: The app may require more resources than allocated, causing performance issues, slow response times, or crashes.
  3. Dependency conflicts: The app may have dependencies that conflict with Hugging Face’s environment, resulting in errors or unexpected behavior.
  4. API endpoint issues: The API endpoints may not be properly configured, resulting in errors or incorrect responses.
  5. Security concerns: The app may have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers, compromising the app’s security and user data.

4.1 Testing the Deployed App

Test the app with different inputs. Make sure the app is working correctly. In case of any issues view logs, error messages, and other diagnostic information to identify the root cause of the issue and make necessary adjustments to the app.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this article states that deploying a sentiment analysis app on Hugging Face can be quite a difficult task, but following the step-by-step guide provided can make it much easier. The benefits of using Hugging Face for NLP application deployment are discussed, such as its streamlined process and included testing and debugging tools. Developers can confidently deploy any app by following the steps and utilizing the resources provided by Hugging Face, delivering precise and dependable results to users. You can find the project on Hugging Face.

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Bright Eshun

Multi-dimensional data scientist, programmer, and cloud computing enthusiast with a talent for crafting engaging narratives. Follow for innovative insights.