Signal · guides

How to do things with Signal.

Each guide is a file you can run. Most of these ask a model, so this site checks their types and does not run them, and their pages say what comes back. Those that need no model are run, and their pages show what they printed.

First steps.

A model reads a booking out of one line of an email, and what comes back is an object the Zod schema has checked.

Install it

pnpm add @niscorp/signal zod openai

Run it

GROQ_API_KEY=your-key npx tsx first.mts

Write first.mts

import { createSignal } from '@niscorp/signal';
import { z } from 'zod';

const signal = createSignal('groq');

const { response: booking } = await signal
  .schema(z.object({ show: z.string(), seats: z.number() }))
  .complete('Two for The Tempest on Saturday, please. Grace');
console.log(booking);

This one needs a model: it asks Groq, with the key it reads from GROQ_API_KEY. No page on this site calls a model, so nothing is printed here. What comes back is an object with a show and a number of seats, checked against the schema before you see it.

Then, one at a time.

Each is a file of its own and adds one thing. Read them in order, or go to the one you need.

A typed answerGive Signal a Zod schema and the answer is an object of that shape. One that fails the schema is retried, with what was wrong.

A toolA tool is a function the model may ask for. Signal checks what the model sends, runs the function, and hands the result back until the model answers.

A streamThe same call, read while the model is still writing: the text a few characters at a time, then the whole result.

A conversationSignal keeps nothing between calls. Each result carries the history so far, and you hand it to the next call.

Which model, and what it can doSignal knows what each model it was measured on can do, and tells you before any request is made. This file asks no model and needs no key.

Your own loopOne call to the model. Give it a schema and it says whether the turn was tool calls, an answer or a failure. It is what Cortex is built on.

A decisionQuestions with fixed options about something, and an answer to each. On a decision model each answer comes with its probability.

A test without a modelHand Signal a client of your own and it answers in place of the provider. Your test says what the model writes, and Signal does the rest as it always does.