ZaFlow - Lightweight TypeScript library for building efficient AI agent workflows.

ZaFlow is a blazing-fast, lightweight alternative to LangChain & LangGraph. Build powerful AI agents in minutes with multi-agent workflows, tool calling, and flow control — all in pure TypeScript with zero bloat.

🚀 Overview   •   🪶 Features   •   📦 Installation   •   ⚡ Quick Start   •   🔌 Providers   •   🎮 Execution Modes   •   🛠️ Tools   •   🤖 Agents   •   📷 Multimodal   •   🎯 Structured Output   •   🤝 Contributing

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🚀 Overview

ZaFlow solves the complexity of building AI agent systems by providing a high-level, opinionated API. It is built for developers who need to create chatbots, autonomous agents, or AI-powered workflows without getting bogged down in protocol details.

Targeting Node.js and TypeScript developers, ZaFlow integrates essential features like multi-provider support, tool calling, agent delegation, and flow control out of the box.

✨ Features

• ✅ Lightweight - Minimal dependencies, fast startup, no bloat
• ✅ Multi-Provider - OpenAI, Groq, Ollama, or custom provider
• ✅ 3 Execution Modes - Single, Agentic, Autonomous
• ✅ Tools & Agents - Define tools with Zod schema validation
• ✅ Flow Control - Steps, conditions, loops, parallel execution
• ✅ Multimodal - Image, audio, file support with smart media reference system
• ✅ Output Format - Auto, JSON, WhatsApp formatting
• ✅ Agent Delegation - Autonomous agent-to-agent communication
• ✅ Structured Output - Type-safe responses with Zod schema validation

🎨 Concepts & Architecture

ZaFlow - Your orchestrator. Manages providers, tools, agents, and execution flows.

Provider - AI model connection (OpenAI, Groq, Ollama, or custom).

Tool - Functions that AI can call with validated parameters via Zod schemas.

Agent - Specialized AI with its own provider, prompt, and tools.

ExecutionContext - Rich context object with state, messages, and helpers.

📦 Installation

Install zaflow using your preferred package manager:

npm install zaflow
# or
pnpm add zaflow
# or
bun add zaflow

Note: Requires Node.js v20+ and TypeScript for best experience.

Peer Dependencies (optional)

# For OpenAI provider
npm install openai

# For Groq provider
npm install groq-sdk

# For Ollama provider
npm install ollama

⚡ Quick Start

Here is a minimal example to get your AI agent running:

import { ZaFlow, defineProvider } from 'zaflow';

const GroqProvider = defineProvider({
  type: 'groq',
  apiKey: 'your-api-key',
  defaultModel: 'moonshotai/kimi-k2-instruct',
});

const zaflow = new ZaFlow({
  mode: 'single',
  provider: GroqProvider,
});

const result = await zaflow.run('Explain quantum computing in one sentence');
console.log(result.content);

🛠️ Configuration

The ZaFlow constructor accepts a configuration object:

Option	Type	Required	Description
mode	ExecutionMode	✅	Execution mode: single, agentic, autonomous
provider	Provider	✅	AI provider instance
agents	Agent[]	❌	Sub-agents (for autonomous mode)
tools	Tool[]	❌	Tools (for agentic/autonomous mode)
config	ModelConfig	❌	Model configuration
historyConfig	HistoryConfig	❌	History management
storage	StoragePlugin	❌	Storage plugin
hooks	Hooks	❌	Event hooks
systemPrompt	string	❌	Custom system prompt

💡 Advanced Usage

With Tools

You can define tools with Zod schema validation for type-safe AI function calling.

import { ZaFlow, defineProvider, defineTool } from 'zaflow';
import { z } from 'zod';

const calculator = defineTool({
  name: 'calculator',
  description: 'Perform mathematical calculations',
  schema: z.object({
    expression: z.string().describe('Math expression like "2 + 2"'),
  }),
  execute: ({ expression }) => eval(expression),
});

const zaflow = new ZaFlow({
  mode: 'agentic',
  // if you want to use other provider
  // provider: GroqProvider,
  tools: [calculator],
});

const result = await zaflow.run('What is 15 * 7 + 23?');

🔌 Providers

Quick Jump: OpenAI · Groq · Ollama · Custom

OpenAI

import { defineProvider } from 'zaflow';

const provider = defineProvider({
  type: 'openai',
  apiKey: 'sk-xxx',
  defaultModel: 'gpt-4o-mini',
});

Groq

import { defineProvider } from 'zaflow';

const provider = defineProvider({
  type: 'groq',
  apiKey: 'gsk_xxx',
  defaultModel: 'llama-3.3-70b-versatile',
});

Ollama

import { defineProvider } from 'zaflow';

const provider = defineProvider({
  type: 'ollama',
  baseURL: 'http://localhost:11434',
  defaultModel: 'llama3.2',
});

Custom Provider

import { defineProvider } from 'zaflow';

// with your external AI API
const customAI = defineProvider({
  type: 'custom',
  name: 'my-ai',
  adapter: async (messages, config) => {
    const res = await fetch('https://my-api.com/chat', {
      method: 'POST',
      body: JSON.stringify({ messages }),
    });

    const json = await res.json();
    return {
      content: json.response,
      usage: {
        promptTokens: 0,
        completionTokens: 0,
        totalTokens: 0,
      },
    };
  },
});

const zaflow = new ZaFlow({ mode: 'single', provider: customAI });

⚠️ AI Model Quality Affects Tool Calling & Agent Delegation

The quality of your AI model significantly impacts whether tool calls and agent delegations work correctly. When using Custom Provider with external APIs:

• Low-quality models may ignore tool instructions and respond directly instead of returning the required JSON format {"tool": "...", "params": {...}}
• Inconsistent behavior - The same prompt may sometimes trigger tools and sometimes not
• Empty responses - Some APIs may return empty responses causing execution errors

Recommendations:

Use Case	Recommended Models
Tool Calling	GPT-4, GPT-4o, Claude 3, Llama 3.1 70B+, Qwen 2.5 72B+
Agent Delegation	GPT-4o, Claude 3 Opus, Llama 3.3 70B
Simple Chat	Any model works fine

For best results with tool calling and agent features, use built-in providers (openai, groq, ollama) with high-quality models that have native function calling support.

🎯 Execution Modes

Quick Jump: Single · Agentic · Autonomous

Single Mode

One chat call without tools. Fastest and most token-efficient.

const zaflow = new ZaFlow({
  mode: 'single',
  provider: GroqProvider,
});

const result = await zaflow.run('Hello!');

Agentic Mode

AI can automatically call tools when needed.

const zaflow = new ZaFlow({
  mode: 'agentic',
  provider: GroqProvider,
  tools: [weatherTool],
});

const result = await zaflow.run('Search weather in Jakarta');

Autonomous Mode

AI can call tools AND delegate to other agents.

const zaflow = new ZaFlow({
  mode: 'autonomous',
  provider: GroqProvider,
  agents: [visionAgent, poetAgent],
  tools: [analysisTool],
});

const result = await zaflow.run('Analyze this image and generate a poem');

🛠️ Tools

Quick Jump: Define Tool · Tool Config · Media Handling

Defining Tool

import { defineTool } from 'zaflow';
import { z } from 'zod';

const weatherTool = defineTool({
  name: 'get_weather',
  description: 'Get current weather for a city',
  schema: z.object({
    city: z.string().describe('City name'),
    unit: z.enum(['celsius', 'fahrenheit']).optional(),
  }),
  execute: async ({ city, unit = 'celsius' }) => {
    // const data = await fetchWeatherAPI...
    return `Currently in ${city} is 20°`;
  },
});

Tool Configuration

const tool = defineTool({
  name: 'my_tool',
  description: 'My tool description',
  schema: z.object({ input: z.string() }),
  execute: async ({ input }) => input,
  cache: 300000, // TTL in ms, or true for default
  retry: {
    maxAttempts: 3,
    delayMs: 1000,
    backoff: 'exponential',
  },
});

Tool with Media Handling

const imageAnalyzer = defineTool({
  name: 'analyze_image',
  description: 'Analyze image content',
  schema: z.object({ imageUrl: z.string() }),
  handles: ['image'],
  execute: async ({ imageUrl }) => {
    // const data = await fetchAIImageAnalyzer...
    return 'The picture shows the sun rising!';
  },
});

🤖 Agents

Quick Jump: Define Agent · Media Support · Register

Defining an Agent

import { defineAgent, defineProvider } from 'zaflow';

const codeReviewer = defineAgent({
  name: 'Code Reviewer',
  role: 'Expert code reviewer',
  systemPrompt: `You are an expert code reviewer. Review code for bugs, security issues, and best practices.`,
  provider: GroqProvider,
  model: 'llama-3.3-70b-versatile',
  config: { temperature: 0.3 },
  tools: [lintTool, securityScanTool],
});

const contentWriter = defineAgent({
  name: 'Content Writer',
  role: 'Creative content writer',
  systemPrompt: 'You are a creative content writer.',
  provider: GroqProvider,
  config: { temperature: 0.8 },
});

Agent with Media Support

const visionAgent = defineAgent({
  name: 'Vision Analyzer',
  role: 'Image analysis expert',
  systemPrompt: 'You analyze images and describe their content.',
  provider: GroqProvider,
  // Tools that handle media will automatically be available
});

Register Agents

const zaflow = new ZaFlow({
  mode: 'autonomous',
  provider: GroqProvider,
  agents: [codeReviewer, contentWriter, visionAgent],
});

📷 Multimodal Support

Quick Jump: Image URL · Image Base64 · Media Reference

Image from URL

import { msg, text, image } from 'zaflow';

const messages = [
  ...,
  msg.user([
    text('What is in this image?'),
    image('https://example.com/photo.jpg')
  ])
];

const result = await zaflow.run(messages);

Image from Base64

import { msg, text, imageBase64 } from 'zaflow';

const messages = [
  ...,
  msg.user([
    text('Describe this:'),
    imageBase64(base64Data, 'image/png')
  ])
];

const result = await zaflow.run(messages, { mode: 'autonomous' });

Smart Media Reference System

ZaFlow automatically uses a reference system for large media files (token efficient!):

// 20MB image is NOT copied to every agent
// Only reference ID is passed around
image(massive20MBBase64);

// Agents that need the image: needsMedia: ['image']
// → Receives full resolved data

// Agents that don't need the image
// → Media is stripped, saving tokens!

🎯 Structured Output

Force AI to respond in a specific JSON structure with Zod schema validation:

import { ZaFlow, defineProvider } from 'zaflow';
import { z } from 'zod';

const zaflow = new ZaFlow({
  mode: 'single',
  provider: GroqProvider,
});

// Define your expected response schema
const personSchema = z.object({
  name: z.string(),
  age: z.number(),
  occupation: z.string(),
  skills: z.array(z.string()),
});

const result = await zaflow.run('Extract info: John Doe is a 28 year old software engineer skilled in TypeScript and React', {
  schema: personSchema,
});

// result.content  → response string (may contain JSON)
// To get validated data, you need to parse result.content based on schema
console.log(result.content); // Raw response

Complex Schema Example

const articleSchema = z.object({
  title: z.string(),
  summary: z.string().max(200),
  tags: z.array(z.string()).min(1).max(5),
  sentiment: z.enum(['positive', 'negative', 'neutral']),
  metadata: z.object({
    wordCount: z.number(),
    readingTime: z.string(),
  }),
});

const result = await zaflow.run('Analyze this article: ...', {
  schema: articleSchema,
});

Note: The schema option guides the AI to output in the specified structure, but you'll need to parse result.content to get typed data.

🎯 Execution Options

const result = await zaflow.run(input, {
  config: {
    maxTokens: 4096,
    temperature: 0.7,
    topP: 0.9,
  },
  schema: responseSchema,
  detailed: true,
  persistContext: false,
  systemPrompt: 'You are a helpful assistant.',
});

AI Personalization with systemPrompt

Customize AI behavior without affecting library's internal prompts:

const result = await zaflow.run('Halo!', {
  systemPrompt: `Kamu adalah JawiBot, asisten AI berbahasa Jawa.
Jawab semua pertanyaan dalam bahasa Jawa yang sopan.
Gunakan emoji sesekali untuk membuat percakapan lebih hidup.`,
});

// Output: "Sugeng enjing! Aku JawiBot, asisten AI sing siap mbantu sampeyan! 😊"

Note: systemPrompt is injected before library's internal prompts (tools, agents), ensuring your personalization takes priority.

📊 Execution Result

const result = await zaflow.run(input);

result.content; // Response content (string)
result.metadata; // Execution metadata (if detailed: true)
result.metadata?.tokensUsed; // Token usage { prompt, completion, total }
result.metadata?.toolsCalled; // Array of tool names called
result.metadata?.agentsCalled; // Array of agent names called
result.metadata?.executionTime; // Execution time in milliseconds
result.metadata?.model; // Model name used
result.error; // Error object (if any)

📋 TypeScript Types

import type {
  ZaFlowOptions,
  ZaFlowResponse,
  RunOptions,
  StreamOptions,
  ModelConfig,
  HistoryConfig,
  Message,
  QuotedMessage,
  ExecutionMode,
  TokenUsage,
  ExecutionMetadata,
  ErrorResponse,
  Provider,
  ProviderDefinition,
  ProviderAdapter,
  ProviderResponse,
  ProviderMessage,
  ToolCall,
  RateLimit,
  Tool,
  ToolDefinition,
  ToolContext,
  SharedMemory,
  StorageInterface,
  Agent,
  AgentDefinition,
  AgentCapability,
  AgentConstraints,
  Hooks,
  ErrorContext,
  StoragePlugin,
  StorageAdapter,
  StorageDefinition,
  OptimizationConfig,
  RetryConfig,
  CacheConfig,
  TokenBudget,
  ContentPart,
  TextPart,
  ImagePart,
  AudioPart,
  FilePart,
  MediaType,
  QuoteConfig,
} from 'zaflow';

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create new branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature.
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add some feature'.
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/my-feature.
5. Open Pull Request.

🎯 Issues & Feedback

If you encounter any problems or have feature requests, please open an issue

• Buy me coffee ☕
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• ⭐ Star the repo on GitHub

📜 License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Copyright © 2025 zaadevofc. All rights reserved.