async checkStatus() {
    try {
      const response = await axios.get(`${this.baseUrl}/status`);
      //make test call to the LLM service to check if it is available
      return response.data;
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('Error checking RAG service status:', error.message);
      return {
        server_up: false,
        data_loaded: false,
        index_ready: false,
        error: error.message
      };
    }
  }
Check if the RAG service is available and ready
@returns {Promise<{status: string, index_ready: boolean, data_loaded: boolean}>}