dspy

Files (4)

• SKILL.md
• examples.md · references/
• modules.md · references/
• optimizers.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# DSPy: Declarative Language Model Programming

## When to Use This Skill

Use DSPy when you need to:
- **Build complex AI systems** with multiple components and workflows
- **Program LMs declaratively** instead of manual prompt engineering
- **Optimize prompts automatically** using data-driven methods
- **Create modular AI pipelines** that are maintainable and portable
- **Improve model outputs systematically** with optimizers
- **Build RAG systems, agents, or classifiers** with better reliability

**GitHub Stars**: 22,000+ | **Created By**: Stanford NLP

## Installation

```bash
# Stable release
pip install dspy

# Latest development version
pip install git+https://github.com/stanfordnlp/dspy.git

# With specific LM providers
pip install dspy[openai]        # OpenAI
pip install dspy[anthropic]     # Anthropic Claude
pip install dspy[all]           # All providers
```

## Quick Start

### Basic Example: Question Answering

```python
import dspy

# Configure your language model
lm = dspy.Claude(model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929")
dspy.settings.configure(lm=lm)

# Define a signature (input → output)
class QA(dspy.Signature):
    """Answer questions with short factual answers."""
    question = dspy.InputField()
    answer = dspy.OutputField(desc="often between 1 and 5 words")

# Create a module
qa = dspy.Predict(QA)

# Use it
response = qa(question="What is the capital of France?")
print(response.answer)  # "Paris"
```

### Chain of Thought Reasoning

```python
import dspy

lm = dspy.Claude(model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929")
dspy.settings.configure(lm=lm)

# Use ChainOfThought for better reasoning
class MathProblem(dspy.Signature):
    """Solve math word problems."""
    problem = dspy.InputField()
    answer = dspy.OutputField(desc="numerical answer")

# ChainOfThought generates reasoning steps automatically
cot = dspy.ChainOfThought(MathProblem)

response = cot(problem="If John has 5 apples and gives 2 to Mary, how many does he have?")
print(response.rationale)  # Shows reasoning steps
print(response.answer)     # "3"
```

## Core Concepts

### 1. Signatures

Signatures define the structure of your AI task (inputs → outputs):

```python
# Inline signature (simple)
qa = dspy.Predict("question -> answer")

# Class signature (detailed)
class Summarize(dspy.Signature):
    """Summarize text into key points."""
    text = dspy.InputField()
    summary = dspy.OutputField(desc="bullet points, 3-5 items")

summarizer = dspy.ChainOfThought(Summarize)
```

**When to use each:**
- **Inline**: Quick prototyping, simple tasks
- **Class**: Complex tasks, type hints, better documentation

### 2. Modules

Modules are reusable components that transform inputs to outputs:

#### dspy.Predict
Basic prediction module:

```python
predictor = dspy.Predict("context, question -> answer")
result = predictor(context="Paris is the capital of France",
                   question="What is the capital?")
```

#### dspy.ChainOfThought
Generates reasoning steps before answering:

```python
cot = dspy.ChainOfThought("question -> answer")
result = cot(question="Why is the sky blue?")
print(result.rationale)  # Reasoning steps

From Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, MIT.

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