Update app.py

app.py

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ from vaderSentiment.vaderSentiment import SentimentIntensityAnalyzer
 
 # -------- Model / bot configuration --------
 GEN_MODEL_NAME = "MBZUAI/LaMini-Flan-T5-248M"  # CPU-friendly text2text model
+WELCOME_IMAGE_PATH = "assets/cat.png"          # your local image
 
 DOMAIN_INSTRUCTIONS = (
     "You are a concise assistant about cats in ancient Egypt. "
@@ -32,6 +33,10 @@ HELP_TEXT = (
     "Type anything else to try the AI fallback."
 )
 
+WELCOME_TEXT = (
+    "Hi! I share facts about cats in ancient Egypt.\n\n" + HELP_TEXT
+)
+
 # -------- Output cleanup (remove model-added fluff) --------
 DISCLAIMER_PATTERNS = [
     r"^\s*(hi|hello|hey)[,!.?\s-]*",            # stray greeting
@@ -190,9 +195,28 @@ def reply(message, history):
     return apply_tone_prefix(base, bucket, message)
 
 # -------- UI --------
+
+# Preload a welcome message that includes your local image + short intro text.
+initial_messages = [
+    {
+        "role": "assistant",
+        "content": [
+            {"type": "image", "image": WELCOME_IMAGE_PATH, "alt_text": "Stylized Bastet cat image"},
+            {"type": "text", "text": WELCOME_TEXT},
+        ],
+    }
+]
+
+chatbot_component = gr.Chatbot(
+    type="messages",          # avoids deprecated tuples format
+    value=initial_messages,   # show welcome image + text on load
+    show_label=False,
+)
+
 demo = gr.ChatInterface(
     fn=reply,
-    title="😺 Cats of Ancient Egypt Chatbot 😺"
+    title="😺 Cats of Ancient Egypt Chatbot 😺",
+    chatbot=chatbot_component
 )
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":