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Sifaka Developer Setup Guide

This guide shows how to set up Sifaka for development from scratch.

Prerequisites

1. Install uv (Python package manager)

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Setting Up the Development Environment

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/sifaka-ai/sifaka.git
cd sifaka

2. Create a Virtual Environment with uv

uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On macOS/Linux
# or
.venv\Scripts\activate     # On Windows

3. Install in Development Mode

uv pip install -e ".[dev]"

This installs: - Sifaka in editable mode (changes to code are reflected immediately) - All development dependencies (pytest, ruff, mypy, etc.) - All optional dependencies

4. Install Pre-commit Hooks

pre-commit install

This ensures code quality checks run before commits.

5. Set up API Keys

You'll need at least one API key from these providers:

# Choose one or more:
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-anthropic-key"
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-openai-key"
export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-google-key"

Basic Usage

Your First Improvement

Create a file first_improvement.py:

import asyncio
from sifaka import improve

async def main():
    text = "AI is changing the world. It's important to understand."

    # Simple improvement with default settings
    result = await improve(text)

    print(f"Original: {text}")
    print(f"Improved: {result.final_text}")
    print(f"Iterations: {result.iteration}")

asyncio.run(main())

Using Different Critics

# Try different critics for different purposes
result = await improve(
    "Your text here",
    critics=["reflexion"],      # Self-reflection and learning
    max_iterations=3
)

# Or use multiple critics
result = await improve(
    "Your text here",
    critics=["constitutional", "self_refine"],  # Ethics + quality
    max_iterations=2
)

Adding Validators

from sifaka.validators.composable import Validator

# Create a tweet validator
tweet_validator = (
    Validator.create("tweet")
    .length(max_length=280)
    .contains(["#", "@"], mode="any")
    .build()
)

result = await improve(
    "Check out our new product",
    validators=[tweet_validator],
    max_iterations=3
)

Choosing Providers and Models

Fast and Cheap (Google Gemini)

from sifaka import Config

result = await improve(
    text,
    provider="google",
    model="gemini-1.5-flash",
    config=Config(
        critic_model="gemini-1.5-flash",
        temperature=0.7
    )
)

High Quality (Anthropic Claude)

result = await improve(
    text,
    provider="anthropic",
    model="claude-3-haiku-20240307",
    config=Config(
        critic_model="claude-3-haiku-20240307",
        temperature=0.6
    )
)

Balanced (OpenAI)

result = await improve(
    text,
    provider="openai",
    model="gpt-4o-mini",
    config=Config(
        critic_model="gpt-4o-mini",
        temperature=0.7
    )
)

Available Critics

  • reflexion - Self-reflection and iterative learning
  • constitutional - Principle-based evaluation for safety/ethics
  • self_refine - General quality improvements
  • n_critics - Multiple perspective evaluation
  • self_rag - Fact-checking with web search (requires tools)
  • meta_rewarding - Two-stage quality evaluation
  • self_consistency - Consensus-based improvements

Debugging with Thought Logs

Enable thought logging to see what's happening:

from sifaka.storage.file import FileStorage

result = await improve(
    text,
    critics=["reflexion"],
    storage=FileStorage()  # Saves detailed logs
)

# Logs are saved in ./sifaka_thoughts/

Synchronous Usage

If you're not in an async environment:

from sifaka import improve_sync

# No await needed
result = improve_sync(
    "Your text here",
    critics=["self_refine"],
    max_iterations=2
)

print(result.final_text)

Common Patterns

Blog Post Improvement

from sifaka.validators.composable import Validator

blog_validator = (
    Validator.create("blog")
    .length(500, 1500)
    .sentences(20, 100)
    .contains(["example", "consider"], mode="any")
    .build()
)

result = await improve(
    draft,
    critics=["self_refine", "constitutional"],
    validators=[blog_validator],
    max_iterations=3
)

Technical Documentation

tech_validator = (
    Validator.create("tech_doc")
    .contains(["example", "parameters", "returns"], mode="all")
    .matches(r"```[\s\S]+?```", "code_blocks")
    .build()
)

result = await improve(
    doc_draft,
    critics=["self_rag", "self_consistency"],
    validators=[tech_validator],
    config=Config(
        temperature=0.3,  # Lower for accuracy
        enable_tools=True  # For fact-checking
    )
)

Quick Polish

# Just one iteration for quick improvements
result = await improve(
    text,
    critics=["self_refine"],
    max_iterations=1,
    provider="google",
    model="gemini-1.5-flash"  # Fast and cheap
)

Next Steps

  1. Run Examples: Try the examples in /examples/
  2. Read Docs: Check /docs/ for detailed documentation
  3. Experiment: Try different critics and validators
  4. Monitor Costs: Use result.total_cost to track spending

Tips

  • Start with gemini-1.5-flash for experimentation (cheapest)
  • Use claude-3-haiku-20240307 for quality improvements
  • Enable FileStorage() to debug what's happening
  • Use validators to ensure output meets requirements
  • Combine multiple critics for comprehensive improvement

Getting Help

  • Issues: https://github.com/sifaka-ai/sifaka/issues
  • Docs: /docs/README.md
  • Examples: /examples/