---
description: Guidelines for using PocketFlow, a minimalist LLM framework
globs: **/*.py
alwaysApply: true
---
# Pocket Flow

A [100-line](mdc:https:/github.com/the-pocket/PocketFlow/blob/main/pocketflow/__init__.py) minimalist LLM framework for *Agents, Task Decomposition, RAG, etc*.

- **Lightweight**: Just the core graph abstraction in 100 lines. ZERO dependencies, and vendor lock-in.
- **Expressive**: Everything you love from larger frameworks—([Multi-])[Agents], [Workflow], [RAG], and more.  
- **Agentic-Coding**: Intuitive enough for AI agents to help humans build complex LLM applications.




## Core Abstraction

We model the LLM workflow as a **Graph + Shared Store**:

- [Node] handles simple (LLM) tasks.
- [Flow] connects nodes through **Actions** (labeled edges).
- [Shared Store] enables communication between nodes within flows.
- [Batch] nodes/flows allow for data-intensive tasks.
- [Async] nodes/flows allow waiting for asynchronous tasks.
- [(Advanced) Parallel] nodes/flows handle I/O-bound tasks.



## Design Pattern

From there, it’s easy to implement popular design patterns:

- [Agent] autonomously makes decisions.
- [Workflow] chains multiple tasks into pipelines.
- [RAG] integrates data retrieval with generation.
- [Map Reduce] splits data tasks into Map and Reduce steps.
- [Structured Output] formats outputs consistently.
- [(Advanced) Multi-Agents] coordinate multiple agents.



## Utility Function

We **do not** provide built-in utilities. Instead, we offer *examples*—please *implement your own*:

- [LLM Wrapper]
- [Viz and Debug]
- [Web Search]
- [Chunking]
- [Embedding]
- [Vector Databases]
- [Text-to-Speech]

**Why not built-in?**: I believe it's a *bad practice* for vendor-specific APIs in a general framework:
- *API Volatility*: Frequent changes lead to heavy maintenance for hardcoded APIs.
- *Flexibility*: You may want to switch vendors, use fine-tuned models, or run them locally.
- *Optimizations*: Prompt caching, batching, and streaming are easier without vendor lock-in.

## Ready to build your Apps? 

Check out [Agentic Coding Guidance], the fastest way to develop LLM projects with Pocket Flow!