Functions Overview#

FlowKit is an external function repository for the AALI agent platform. It provides ready-to-use functions that can be dynamically discovered and executed through a gRPC interface.

Warning

FlowKit is not designed to be a standalone. While you can interact with FlowKit’s gRPC interface directly for testing and development, in production workflows the AALI Agent is the primary consumer that orchestrates function execution, handles type conversions, and manages workflow state.

Note

For installation instructions, see Installation.

Functions are organized into categories, each serving a specific purpose in building workflows. Categories include various utility functions, integrations, and domain-specific operations.

Important

Use ListFunctions to discover all available functions and their categories. The exact categories and their contents may vary based on your FlowKit configuration.

Discovering Functions#

Always use ListFunctions to discover available functions dynamically:

Python Example:

import grpc
import flowkit_pb2
import flowkit_pb2_grpc

# Connect to FlowKit
channel = grpc.insecure_channel('localhost:50051')
stub = flowkit_pb2_grpc.FlowKitStub(channel)

# List all functions
response = stub.ListFunctions(flowkit_pb2.ListFunctionsRequest())

# Browse by category
for name, definition in response.functions.items():
    print(f"{definition.category}: {name}")

Go Example:

import pb "github.com/ansys/aali-sharedtypes/pkg/aaliflowkitgrpc"

// List all functions
response, err := client.ListFunctions(ctx, &pb.ListFunctionsRequest{})

// Browse functions
for name, def := range response.Functions {
    fmt.Printf("%s: %s\n", def.Category, name)
}

Basic Usage Example#

Here’s how to call a simple function:

# Call GenerateUUID function
response = stub.RunFunction(flowkit_pb2.RunFunctionRequest(
    function_name="GenerateUUID",
    inputs={}
))

# Get the result
uuid = response.outputs["result"]
print(f"Generated UUID: {uuid}")

Note

All function inputs and outputs are strings. Complex data structures must be JSON-encoded.

Next Steps#