Build complex AI systems with declarative programming, optimize prompts automatically, create modular RAG systems and agents with DSPy - Stanford NLP's framework for systematic LM programming
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Use DSPy when you need to:
GitHub Stars: 22,000+ | Created By: Stanford NLP
# 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
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"
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"
Signatures define the structure of your AI task (inputs → outputs):
# 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:
Modules are reusable components that transform inputs to outputs:
Basic prediction module:
predictor = dspy.Predict("context, question -> answer")
result = predictor(context="Paris is the capital of France",
question="What is the capital?")
Generates reasoning steps before answering:
cot = dspy.ChainOfThought("question -> answer")
result = cot(question="Why is the sky blue?")
print(result.rationale) # Reasoning steps
print(result.answer) # Final answer
Agent-like reasoning with tools:
from dspy.predict import ReAct
class SearchQA(dspy.Signature):
"""Answer questions using search."""
question = dspy.InputField()
answer = dspy.OutputField()
def search_tool(query: str) -> str:
"""Search Wikipedia."""
# Your search implementation
return results
react = ReAct(SearchQA, tools=[search_tool])
result = react(question="When was Python created?")
Generates and executes code for reasoning:
pot = dspy.ProgramOfThought("question -> answer")
result = pot(question="What is 15% of 240?")
# Generates: answer = 240 * 0.15
Optimizers improve your modules automatically using training data:
Learns from examples:
from dspy.teleprompt import BootstrapFewShot
# Training data
trainset = [
dspy.Example(question="What is 2+2?", answer="4").with_inputs("question"),
dspy.Example(question="What is 3+5?", answer="8").with_inputs("question"),
]
# Define metric
def validate_answer(example, pred, trace=None):
return example.answer == pred.answer
# Optimize
optimizer = BootstrapFewShot(metric=validate_answer, max_bootstrapped_demos=3)
optimized_qa = optimizer.compile(qa, trainset=trainset)
# Now optimized_qa performs better!
Iteratively improves prompts:
from dspy.teleprompt import MIPRO
optimizer = MIPRO(
metric=validate_answer,
num_candidates=10,
init_temperature=1.0
)
optimized_cot = optimizer.compile(
cot,
trainset=trainset,
num_trials=100
)
Creates datasets for model fine-tuning:
from dspy.teleprompt import BootstrapFinetune
optimizer = BootstrapFinetune(metric=validate_answer)
optimized_module = optimizer.compile(qa, trainset=trainset)
# Exports training data for fine-tuning
import dspy
class MultiHopQA(dspy.Module):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__()
self.retrieve = dspy.Retrieve(k=3)
self.generate_query = dspy.ChainOfThought("question -> search_query")
self.generate_answer = dspy.ChainOfThought("context, question -> answer")
def forward(self, question):
# Stage 1: Generate search query
search_query = self.generate_query(question=question).search_query
# Stage 2: Retrieve context
passages = self.retrieve(search_query).passages
context = "\n".join(passages)
# Stage 3: Generate answer
answer = self.generate_answer(context=context, question=question).answer
return dspy.Prediction(answer=answer, context=context)
# Use the pipeline
qa_system = MultiHopQA()
result = qa_system(question="Who wrote the book that inspired the movie Blade Runner?")
import dspy
from dspy.retrieve.chromadb_rm import ChromadbRM
# Configure retriever
retriever = ChromadbRM(
collection_name="documents",
persist_directory="./chroma_db"
)
class RAG(dspy.Module):
def __init__(self, num_passages=3):
super().__init__()
self.retrieve = dspy.Retrieve(k=num_passages)
self.generate = dspy.ChainOfThought("context, question -> answer")
def forward(self, question):
context = self.retrieve(question).passages
return self.generate(context=context, question=question)
# Create and optimize
rag = RAG()
# Optimize with training data
from dspy.teleprompt import BootstrapFewShot
optimizer = BootstrapFewShot(metric=validate_answer)
optimized_rag = optimizer.compile(rag, trainset=trainset)
import dspy
lm = dspy.Claude(
model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
api_key="your-api-key", # Or set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY env var
max_tokens=1000,
temperature=0.7
)
dspy.settings.configure(lm=lm)
lm = dspy.OpenAI(
model="gpt-4",
api_key="your-api-key",
max_tokens=1000
)
dspy.settings.configure(lm=lm)
lm = dspy.OllamaLocal(
model="llama3.1",
base_url="http://localhost:11434"
)
dspy.settings.configure(lm=lm)
# Different models for different tasks
cheap_lm = dspy.OpenAI(model="gpt-3.5-turbo")
strong_lm = dspy.Claude(model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929")
# Use cheap model for retrieval, strong model for reasoning
with dspy.settings.context(lm=cheap_lm):
context = retriever(question)
with dspy.settings.context(lm=strong_lm):
answer = generator(context=context, question=question)
from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
class PersonInfo(BaseModel):
name: str = Field(description="Full name")
age: int = Field(description="Age in years")
occupation: str = Field(description="Current job")
class ExtractPerson(dspy.Signature):
"""Extract person information from text."""
text = dspy.InputField()
person: PersonInfo = dspy.OutputField()
extractor = dspy.TypedPredictor(ExtractPerson)
result = extractor(text="John Doe is a 35-year-old software engineer.")
print(result.person.name) # "John Doe"
print(result.person.age) # 35
import dspy
from dspy.primitives.assertions import assert_transform_module, backtrack_handler
class MathQA(dspy.Module):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__()
self.solve = dspy.ChainOfThought("problem -> solution: float")
def forward(self, problem):
solution = self.solve(problem=problem).solution
# Assert solution is numeric
dspy.Assert(
isinstance(float(solution), float),
"Solution must be a number",
backtrack=backtrack_handler
)
return dspy.Prediction(solution=solution)
import dspy
from collections import Counter
class ConsistentQA(dspy.Module):
def __init__(self, num_samples=5):
super().__init__()
self.qa = dspy.ChainOfThought("question -> answer")
self.num_samples = num_samples
def forward(self, question):
# Generate multiple answers
answers = []
for _ in range(self.num_samples):
result = self.qa(question=question)
answers.append(result.answer)
# Return most common answer
most_common = Counter(answers).most_common(1)[0][0]
return dspy.Prediction(answer=most_common)
class RerankedRAG(dspy.Module):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__()
self.retrieve = dspy.Retrieve(k=10)
self.rerank = dspy.Predict("question, passage -> relevance_score: float")
self.answer = dspy.ChainOfThought("context, question -> answer")
def forward(self, question):
# Retrieve candidates
passages = self.retrieve(question).passages
# Rerank passages
scored = []
for passage in passages:
score = float(self.rerank(question=question, passage=passage).relevance_score)
scored.append((score, passage))
# Take top 3
top_passages = [p for _, p in sorted(scored, reverse=True)[:3]]
context = "\n\n".join(top_passages)
# Generate answer
return self.answer(context=context, question=question)
def exact_match(example, pred, trace=None):
"""Exact match metric."""
return example.answer.lower() == pred.answer.lower()
def f1_score(example, pred, trace=None):
"""F1 score for text overlap."""
pred_tokens = set(pred.answer.lower().split())
gold_tokens = set(example.answer.lower().split())
if not pred_tokens:
return 0.0
precision = len(pred_tokens & gold_tokens) / len(pred_tokens)
recall = len(pred_tokens & gold_tokens) / len(gold_tokens)
if precision + recall == 0:
return 0.0
return 2 * (precision * recall) / (precision + recall)
from dspy.evaluate import Evaluate
# Create evaluator
evaluator = Evaluate(
devset=testset,
metric=exact_match,
num_threads=4,
display_progress=True
)
# Evaluate model
score = evaluator(qa_system)
print(f"Accuracy: {score}")
# Compare optimized vs unoptimized
score_before = evaluator(qa)
score_after = evaluator(optimized_qa)
print(f"Improvement: {score_after - score_before:.2%}")
# Start with Predict
qa = dspy.Predict("question -> answer")
# Add reasoning if needed
qa = dspy.ChainOfThought("question -> answer")
# Add optimization when you have data
optimized_qa = optimizer.compile(qa, trainset=data)
# ❌ Bad: Vague
class Task(dspy.Signature):
input = dspy.InputField()
output = dspy.OutputField()
# ✅ Good: Descriptive
class SummarizeArticle(dspy.Signature):
"""Summarize news articles into 3-5 key points."""
article = dspy.InputField(desc="full article text")
summary = dspy.OutputField(desc="bullet points, 3-5 items")
# Create diverse training examples
trainset = [
dspy.Example(question="factual", answer="...).with_inputs("question"),
dspy.Example(question="reasoning", answer="...").with_inputs("question"),
dspy.Example(question="calculation", answer="...").with_inputs("question"),
]
# Use validation set for metric
def metric(example, pred, trace=None):
return example.answer in pred.answer
# Save
optimized_qa.save("models/qa_v1.json")
# Load
loaded_qa = dspy.ChainOfThought("question -> answer")
loaded_qa.load("models/qa_v1.json")
# Enable tracing
dspy.settings.configure(lm=lm, trace=[])
# Run prediction
result = qa(question="...")
# Inspect trace
for call in dspy.settings.trace:
print(f"Prompt: {call['prompt']}")
print(f"Response: {call['response']}")
| Feature | Manual Prompting | LangChain | DSPy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prompt Engineering | Manual | Manual | Automatic |
| Optimization | Trial & error | None | Data-driven |
| Modularity | Low | Medium | High |
| Type Safety | No | Limited | Yes (Signatures) |
| Portability | Low | Medium | High |
| Learning Curve | Low | Medium | Medium-High |
When to choose DSPy:
When to choose alternatives:
references/modules.md - Detailed module guide (Predict, ChainOfThought, ReAct, ProgramOfThought)references/optimizers.md - Optimization algorithms (BootstrapFewShot, MIPRO, BootstrapFinetune)references/examples.md - Real-world examples (RAG, agents, classifiers)
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Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Set up and use 1Password CLI (op). Use when installing the CLI, enabling desktop app integration, signing in (single or multi-account), or reading/injecting/running secrets via op.
CLI to manage emails via IMAP/SMTP. Use `himalaya` to list, read, write, reply, forward, search, and organize emails from the terminal. Supports multiple accounts and message composition with MML (MIME Meta Language).