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Pipe Builder

Beta Feature

The Pipe Builder is currently in beta and progressing fast. Expect frequent improvements and changes.

The Pipe Builder is an AI-powered tool that generates complete Pipelex pipelines from natural language descriptions. Describe what you want to achieve, and the builder creates a production-ready .plx file with concepts, pipes, and all the necessary structure.

What It Does

The Pipe Builder takes a brief description like:

"Take a CV and Job offer in PDF, analyze if they match and generate 5 questions for the interview"

And generates:

  • Domain concepts - Data structures for your workflow (e.g., CVAnalysis, InterviewQuestion)
  • Pipe operators - LLM calls, extractions, image generation steps
  • Pipe controllers - Sequences, batches, parallels, conditions to orchestrate the flow
  • A complete bundle - Ready to validate and run

How It Works

Built with Pipelex

The Pipe Builder is itself a Pipelex pipeline! This showcases the power of Pipelex: a tool that builds pipelines... using a pipeline.

The builder follows a multi-step process:

1. Draft the Plan

First, the AI analyzes your brief and creates a narrative plan describing:

  • The sequence of steps needed
  • Inputs and outputs for each step
  • Where structured data or lists are needed
  • Which orchestration patterns to use (sequence, batch, parallel, condition)

2. Draft the Concepts

Based on the plan, it identifies and defines the concepts needed:

  • What data structures are required
  • Which fields each concept needs
  • How concepts relate to each other
  • Which native concepts to reuse (Text, Image, PDF, etc.)

3. Structure the Concepts

The concept drafts are formalized into proper Pipelex concept specifications with:

  • Field names and types
  • Descriptions
  • Required/optional flags
  • Default values

4. Design the Flow

The plan is translated into a structured flow with:

  • Pipe operators (PipeLLM, PipeExtract, PipeImgGen)
  • Pipe controllers (PipeSequence, PipeBatch, PipeParallel, PipeCondition)
  • Input/output contracts for each pipe
  • Memory flow between steps

5. Review and Refine

The flow is reviewed for consistency:

  • Are inputs and outputs properly connected?
  • Is the main pipe correctly identified?
  • Are batches and lists handled properly?

6. Generate Pipe Signatures

Each pipe gets a formal signature with:

  • Unique pipe code
  • Description
  • Input/output types with multiplicity
  • Dependencies on other pipes

7. Assemble the Bundle

Finally, everything is assembled into a complete Pipelex bundle:

  • Domain header with name and description
  • All concept definitions
  • All pipe definitions
  • Main pipe identification

The Builder Pipeline

The Pipe Builder is defined in pipelex/builder/builder.plx. The main orchestrator is a PipeSequence called pipe_builder that chains together:

draft_the_plan → draft_the_concepts → structure_concepts → draft_flow → review_flow → design_pipe_signatures → write_bundle_header → detail_pipe_spec (batched) → assemble_pipelex_bundle_spec

Each step uses PipeLLM with carefully crafted prompts to guide the AI through the generation process.

Using the Pipe Builder

To use the Pipe Builder, use the CLI command:

pipelex build pipe "Your description here"

See the Build Pipe CLI documentation for:

  • Command options
  • Generated file structure
  • Example use cases
  • Tips for best results