@memberjunction/ai-recommendations

A provider-based recommendation engine for MemberJunction. Manages recommendation runs, delegates to pluggable providers via the class factory, and tracks results through Recommendation, Recommendation Run, and Recommendation Item entities.

Architecture

graph TD
    subgraph Engine["@memberjunction/ai-recommendations"]
        REB["RecommendationEngineBase<br/>(singleton BaseEngine)"]
        RPB["RecommendationProviderBase<br/>(abstract)"]
        RR["RecommendationRequest&lt;T&gt;"]
        RRES["RecommendationResult"]
    end

    subgraph Providers["Registered Providers"]
        P1["Provider A"]
        P2["Provider B"]
    end

    subgraph MJEntities["MemberJunction Entities"]
        RP["Recommendation Providers"]
        RUN["Recommendation Runs"]
        REC["Recommendations"]
        RI["Recommendation Items"]
        LIST["Lists / List Details"]
    end

    subgraph MJCore["MemberJunction Core"]
        BE["BaseEngine"]
        CF["ClassFactory"]
        MD["Metadata"]
    end

    REB -->|extends| BE
    REB -->|discovers| CF
    CF -->|creates| P1
    CF -->|creates| P2
    P1 -->|extends| RPB
    P2 -->|extends| RPB
    REB --> RP
    REB --> RUN
    RPB --> REC
    RPB --> RI
    REB --> LIST

    style Engine fill:#2d6a9f,stroke:#1a4971,color:#fff
    style Providers fill:#2d8659,stroke:#1a5c3a,color:#fff
    style MJEntities fill:#b8762f,stroke:#8a5722,color:#fff
    style MJCore fill:#7c5295,stroke:#563a6b,color:#fff

Installation

npm install @memberjunction/ai-recommendations

Overview

This package provides the framework for running recommendations in MemberJunction. It follows the engine/provider pattern used throughout the platform:

1. RecommendationEngineBase — a singleton engine (extending BaseEngine) that loads provider metadata, selects a provider, creates Recommendation Run tracking records, and delegates the actual recommendation logic
2. RecommendationProviderBase — an abstract class that concrete providers implement to generate recommendations for each source record
3. RecommendationRequest/RecommendationResult — typed request and response objects that flow through the pipeline

Providers are discovered at runtime through MemberJunction’s ClassFactory using @RegisterClass(RecommendationProviderBase, 'ProviderName').

Recommendation Flow

sequenceDiagram
    participant Caller
    participant Engine as RecommendationEngineBase
    participant CF as ClassFactory
    participant Provider as RecommendationProvider
    participant DB as MJ Database

    Caller->>Engine: Recommend(request)
    Engine->>Engine: TryThrowIfNotLoaded()

    alt Provider specified
        Engine->>Engine: Use request.Provider
    else No provider
        Engine->>Engine: Use first available
    end

    Engine->>Engine: GetRecommendationEntities(request)

    alt From List
        Engine->>DB: Load List + List Details
        Engine->>DB: Load entity records by IDs
    else From EntityAndRecordsInfo
        Engine->>DB: Load records by entity name + IDs
    else Pre-built
        Engine->>Engine: Validate Recommendations array
    end

    Engine->>DB: Create Recommendation Run (Status: In Progress)

    opt CreateErrorList = true
        Engine->>DB: Create error tracking List
    end

    Engine->>CF: CreateInstance(provider.Name)
    CF-->>Engine: Provider instance

    Engine->>Provider: Recommend(request)

    loop For each recommendation
        Provider->>Provider: Call external API
        Provider->>DB: SaveRecommendation + Items
    end

    Provider-->>Engine: RecommendationResult

    Engine->>DB: Update Run (Completed/Error)
    Engine-->>Caller: RecommendationResult

Core Components

RecommendationEngineBase

A singleton engine that manages the recommendation lifecycle.

import { RecommendationEngineBase } from '@memberjunction/ai-recommendations';

// Access the singleton
const engine = RecommendationEngineBase.Instance;

// Initialize (loads Recommendation Providers metadata)
await engine.Config(false, contextUser);

// Run recommendations
const result = await engine.Recommend(request);

Key properties and methods:

Member	Description
Instance	Static getter for the singleton instance
RecommendationProviders	Array of RecommendationProviderEntity loaded from metadata
Config(forceRefresh?, contextUser?, provider?)	Loads provider metadata into cache
Recommend<T>(request)	Runs the full recommendation pipeline

RecommendationProviderBase

Abstract base class for implementing recommendation providers.

classDiagram
    class RecommendationProviderBase {
        <<abstract>>
        -_md : Metadata
        -_ContextUser : UserInfo
        +ContextUser : UserInfo
        +Recommend(request)* RecommendationResult
        #SaveRecommendation(rec, runID, items) boolean
    }

    class ConcreteProvider {
        +Recommend(request) RecommendationResult
    }

    RecommendationProviderBase <|-- ConcreteProvider

    style RecommendationProviderBase fill:#2d6a9f,stroke:#1a4971,color:#fff
    style ConcreteProvider fill:#2d8659,stroke:#1a5c3a,color:#fff

The SaveRecommendation helper method handles:

1. Setting the RecommendationRunID on the recommendation entity
2. Saving the recommendation record
3. Linking and saving all RecommendationItemEntity records

RecommendationRequest<T>

The request object supports three ways to specify source records:

graph TD
    RR["RecommendationRequest"]
    OPT1["Recommendations[]<br/>Pre-built entities"]
    OPT2["EntityAndRecordsInfo<br/>Entity name + Record IDs"]
    OPT3["ListID<br/>MJ List reference"]

    RR --> OPT1
    RR --> OPT2
    RR --> OPT3

    style RR fill:#2d6a9f,stroke:#1a4971,color:#fff
    style OPT1 fill:#2d8659,stroke:#1a5c3a,color:#fff
    style OPT2 fill:#2d8659,stroke:#1a5c3a,color:#fff
    style OPT3 fill:#2d8659,stroke:#1a5c3a,color:#fff

Field	Type	Description
Recommendations	RecommendationEntity[]	Pre-built unsaved recommendation entities
EntityAndRecordsInfo	{ EntityName, RecordIDs }	Entity name and array of record IDs to process
ListID	string	ID of a MJ List whose details become the source records
Provider	RecommendationProviderEntity	Specific provider to use (defaults to first available)
CurrentUser	UserInfo	User context
Options	T	Generic additional options passed to the provider
CreateErrorList	boolean	Whether to create an error tracking list
RunID	string	Set automatically by the engine
ErrorListID	string	Set automatically if error list is created

RecommendationResult

class RecommendationResult {
    Request: RecommendationRequest;
    RecommendationRun?: RecommendationRunEntity;
    RecommendationItems?: RecommendationItemEntity[];
    Success: boolean;
    ErrorMessage: string;

    AppendWarning(message: string): void;   // Adds warning without setting Success=false
    AppendError(message: string): void;     // Adds error and sets Success=false
    GetErrorMessages(): string[];           // Splits ErrorMessage into array
}

Usage

Running Recommendations from a List

import { RecommendationEngineBase } from '@memberjunction/ai-recommendations';
import { RecommendationRequest } from '@memberjunction/ai-recommendations';

const engine = RecommendationEngineBase.Instance;
await engine.Config(false, contextUser);

const request = new RecommendationRequest();
request.ListID = 'list-uuid';
request.CurrentUser = contextUser;
request.CreateErrorList = true;

const result = await engine.Recommend(request);

if (result.Success) {
    console.log(`Generated ${result.RecommendationItems?.length ?? 0} items`);
} else {
    console.error(result.ErrorMessage);
}

Running Recommendations by Entity and Record IDs

const request = new RecommendationRequest();
request.EntityAndRecordsInfo = {
    EntityName: 'Products',
    RecordIDs: ['id-1', 'id-2', 'id-3']
};
request.CurrentUser = contextUser;

const result = await engine.Recommend(request);

Implementing a Provider

import { RecommendationProviderBase } from '@memberjunction/ai-recommendations';
import { RecommendationRequest, RecommendationResult } from '@memberjunction/ai-recommendations';
import { RegisterClass } from '@memberjunction/global';
import { Metadata } from '@memberjunction/core';
import { RecommendationItemEntity } from '@memberjunction/core-entities';

@RegisterClass(RecommendationProviderBase, 'My Recommendation Provider')
export class MyProvider extends RecommendationProviderBase {
    async Recommend(request: RecommendationRequest): Promise<RecommendationResult> {
        const result = new RecommendationResult(request);
        const md = new Metadata();

        for (const rec of request.Recommendations) {
            // Call your recommendation API/algorithm
            const suggestions = await this.getSuggestions(rec.SourceEntityRecordID);

            const items: RecommendationItemEntity[] = [];
            for (const suggestion of suggestions) {
                const item = await md.GetEntityObject<RecommendationItemEntity>(
                    'Recommendation Items', request.CurrentUser
                );
                item.NewRecord();
                item.DestinationEntityID = suggestion.entityID;
                item.DestinationEntityRecordID = suggestion.recordID;
                item.MatchProbability = suggestion.score;
                items.push(item);
            }

            await this.SaveRecommendation(rec, request.RunID, items);
        }

        return result;
    }

    private async getSuggestions(recordID: string): Promise<Suggestion[]> {
        // Your recommendation logic here
        return [];
    }
}

Database Entities

erDiagram
    RECOMMENDATION_PROVIDERS {
        string ID PK
        string Name
        string Description
    }

    RECOMMENDATION_RUNS {
        string ID PK
        string RecommendationProviderID FK
        string RunByUserID FK
        datetime StartDate
        string Status
        string Description
    }

    RECOMMENDATIONS {
        string ID PK
        string RecommendationRunID FK
        string SourceEntityID FK
        string SourceEntityRecordID
    }

    RECOMMENDATION_ITEMS {
        string ID PK
        string RecommendationID FK
        string DestinationEntityID FK
        string DestinationEntityRecordID
        float MatchProbability
    }

    LISTS {
        string ID PK
        string Name
        string EntityID FK
        string UserID FK
    }

    RECOMMENDATION_PROVIDERS ||--o{ RECOMMENDATION_RUNS : has
    RECOMMENDATION_RUNS ||--o{ RECOMMENDATIONS : contains
    RECOMMENDATIONS ||--o{ RECOMMENDATION_ITEMS : produces

Dependencies

Package	Purpose
@memberjunction/core	BaseEngine, Metadata, RunView, UserInfo, LogStatus
@memberjunction/core-entities	RecommendationEntity, RecommendationRunEntity, RecommendationItemEntity, RecommendationProviderEntity, ListEntity
@memberjunction/global	MJGlobal class factory for provider discovery

Development

# Build
npm run build

# Development mode
npm run start

License

ISC