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Philosophy

The instructor values simplicity and flexibility in leveraging language models (LLMs). It offers a streamlined approach for structured output, avoiding unnecessary dependencies or complex abstractions. Let Zod do the heavy lifting.

“Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better.” — Edsger Dijkstra

The Bridge to Object-Oriented Programming

instructor acts as a bridge converting text-based LLM interactions into a familiar object-oriented format. Its integration with Zod provides type hints, runtime validation, and robust IDE support; love and supported by many in the JS/TS ecosystem. By treating LLMs as callable functions returning typed objects, instructor makes language models backwards compatible with code, making them practical for everyday use while being complex enough for advanced applications.

The zen of instructor

Maintain the flexibility and power of Typescript, without unnecessary constraints.

Begin with a function and a return type hint – simplicity is key. With my experience maintaining a large enterprize framework at my previous job over many years I've learned that the goal of a making a useful framework is minimizing regret, both for the author and hopefully for the user.

  1. Define a Schema const StructuredData = z.object({})
  2. Define validators and methods on your schema.
  3. Encapsulate all your LLM logic into a function function extract(a): StructuredData {}
  4. Define typed computations against your data with function compute(data: StructuredData) {} or call methods on your schema data.compute()

It should be that simple.

My Goals

The goal for the library, documentation, and blog, is to help you be a better Typescript programmer and as a result a better AI engineer.

  • The library is a result of my desire for simplicity.
  • The library should help maintain simplicity in your codebase.
  • I won't try to write prompts for you,
  • I don't try to create indirections or abstractions that make it hard to debug in the future

Please note that the library is designed to be adaptable and open-ended, allowing you to customize and extend its functionality based on your specific requirements. If you have any further questions or ideas hit me up on twitter

Cheers!