README

Papi Core is the decoupled PHP library powering papi-ai, an open-source, n8n-inspired AI workflow automation platform.

Build powerful AI-powered workflows with a modern, extensible PHP engine that supports AI agents, custom tools, and seamless integrations.

✨ Features

🤖 AI Agent Support: Integrate LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic) with tool-calling capabilities
🔧 Extensible Tool System: Create custom tools for AI agents to use
🔌 Integration Framework: Build nodes for external services and APIs
⚡ Modern Workflow Engine: Compose, execute, and extend workflows with nodes and connections
🏗️ Framework Agnostic: Use standalone or with Laravel/Symfony bundles
🧪 Testing Ready: Comprehensive testing utilities and mock clients

🚀 Quick Start

Requirements

PHP 8.1 or higher
Composer
OpenAI API key (for AI features)

Installation

composer require papi-ai/papi-core

Basic Workflow Example

<?php

use Papi\Core\Workflow;
use Papi\Core\Connection;
use Papi\Core\Agents\AIAgent;
use Papi\Core\Tools\HttpTool;
use Papi\Core\Tools\MathTool;
use Papi\Core\Integrations\OpenAIClient;

// Create tools for the AI agent
$httpTool = new HttpTool();
$mathTool = new MathTool();

// Create AI agent with tools
$aiAgent = new AIAgent('assistant', 'AI Assistant');
$aiAgent->setModel('gpt-3.5-turbo')
    ->setSystemPrompt('You are a helpful assistant that can fetch data and perform calculations.')
    ->addTool($httpTool)
    ->addTool($mathTool);

// Create workflow
$workflow = new Workflow('demo_workflow');
$workflow->addNode($aiAgent);

// Execute workflow
$execution = $workflow->execute([
    'query' => 'What is the square root of 144?'
]);

echo json_encode($execution->getOutputData(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

AI Agent with HTTP Integration

<?php

use Papi\Core\Workflow;
use Papi\Core\Connection;
use Papi\Core\Integrations\Http\HttpNode;
use Papi\Core\Integrations\Process\ProcessNode;

// Create HTTP node to fetch data
$httpNode = new HttpNode('fetch', 'Fetch Data');
$httpNode->setConfig([
    'method' => 'GET',
    'url' => 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1',
]);

// Create process node to transform data
$processNode = new ProcessNode('process', 'Process Data');
$processNode->setConfig([
    'operations' => [
        'extract_title' => 'data.title',
        'extract_body' => 'data.body',
    ]
]);

// Create workflow
$workflow = new Workflow('data_workflow');
$workflow->addNode($httpNode);
$workflow->addNode($processNode);
$workflow->addConnection(new Connection('fetch', 'process'));

// Execute workflow
$execution = $workflow->execute();
$result = $execution->getOutputData();

🛠️ Creating Custom Tools

Tools are functions that AI agents can call to perform specific tasks. Here's how to create a custom tool:

<?php

use Papi\Core\Tools\ToolInterface;

class WeatherTool implements ToolInterface
{
    public function getName(): string
    {
        return 'get_weather';
    }

    public function getDescription(): string
    {
        return 'Get current weather information for a location';
    }

    public function getParameters(): array
    {
        return [
            'location' => [
                'type' => 'string',
                'description' => 'City name or coordinates',
                'required' => true
            ],
            'units' => [
                'type' => 'string',
                'description' => 'Temperature units (celsius/fahrenheit)',
                'default' => 'celsius'
            ]
        ];
    }

    public function execute(array $params): array
    {
        $location = $params['location'];
        $units = $params['units'] ?? 'celsius';
        
        // Your weather API logic here
        $weather = $this->fetchWeather($location, $units);
        
        return [
            'location' => $location,
            'temperature' => $weather['temp'],
            'conditions' => $weather['conditions'],
            'units' => $units
        ];
    }

    public function validate(array $params): bool
    {
        return isset($params['location']) && !empty($params['location']);
    }
}

// Use the custom tool
$weatherTool = new WeatherTool();
$aiAgent->addTool($weatherTool);

🔌 Creating Custom Integrations

Integrations are workflow nodes that connect to external services. Here's how to create a custom integration:

<?php

use Papi\Core\Node;

class SlackNode extends Node
{
    public function execute(array $input): array
    {
        $config = $this->config;
        $webhookUrl = $config['webhook_url'] ?? '';
        $message = $input['message'] ?? $config['message'] ?? '';
        
        if (empty($webhookUrl) || empty($message)) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Webhook URL and message are required');
        }
        
        // Send message to Slack
        $response = $this->sendToSlack($webhookUrl, $message);
        
        return [
            'status' => 'success',
            'data' => $response,
            'message_sent' => $message
        ];
    }
    
    private function sendToSlack(string $webhookUrl, string $message): array
    {
        // Slack webhook implementation
        $payload = ['text' => $message];
        
        $ch = curl_init();
        curl_setopt_array($ch, [
            CURLOPT_URL => $webhookUrl,
            CURLOPT_POST => true,
            CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode($payload),
            CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['Content-Type: application/json'],
            CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
        ]);
        
        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        $httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
        curl_close($ch);
        
        return [
            'status_code' => $httpCode,
            'response' => $response
        ];
    }
}

// Use the custom integration
$slackNode = new SlackNode('notify', 'Slack Notification');
$slackNode->setConfig(['webhook_url' => 'https://hooks.slack.com/...']);
$workflow->addNode($slackNode);

📚 Documentation

📖 Documentation Index - Complete documentation overview and navigation

Getting Started:

Getting Started - Installation and basic usage
Workflow Patterns - Understanding workflow design
AI Agents - Working with AI agents and tools

Development:

Integrations - Available integrations and creating custom ones
Developer Guide - Creating custom tools, integrations, and testing
Templates - Reusable workflow patterns

Reference & Support:

API Reference - Complete API documentation
Troubleshooting - Common issues and debugging techniques

🏗️ Architecture

Core Components

Workflow: Main container for workflow logic and execution
Node: Individual processing units (AI agents, integrations, etc.)
Connection: Links between nodes with data transformation
Execution: Workflow execution engine with error handling
Tools: Functions that AI agents can call
Integrations: External service connectors

Workflow Execution

// Create workflow
$workflow = new Workflow('my_workflow');

// Add nodes
$workflow->addNode($node1);
$workflow->addNode($node2);

// Connect nodes
$workflow->addConnection(new Connection('node1', 'node2'));

// Execute with input data
$execution = $workflow->execute(['input' => 'data']);

// Get results
$output = $execution->getOutputData();
$nodeResults = $execution->getNodeResults();

🧪 Testing

Papi Core includes comprehensive testing utilities:

<?php

use Papi\Core\Integrations\MockOpenAIClient;

// Use mock client for testing
$mockClient = new MockOpenAIClient();
$aiAgent->setOpenAIClient($mockClient);

// Test workflow execution
$execution = $workflow->execute(['test' => 'data']);
$this->assertEquals('success', $execution->getStatus());

🚧 Roadmap

Current Features

✅ Core workflow engine
✅ AI agent support with tool-calling
✅ HTTP and Math tools
✅ Basic integrations (HTTP, Process, Output)
✅ Mock OpenAI client for testing

Planned Features

🔄 Parallel workflow execution
🔄 Conditional workflow logic
🔄 Loop workflows
🔄 Plugin discovery system
🔄 More built-in integrations (Slack, Discord, databases)
🔄 Workflow templates and sharing
🔄 Advanced AI agent features (memory, context)

🤝 Community & Support

Ecosystem Projects

Papi Core is part of the larger papi-ai ecosystem:

papi-ui - Laravel-based web interface
papi-symfony-bundle - Symfony integration
papi-plugins - Community plugins
papi-website - Documentation and landing page

Getting Help

📖 Documentation - Comprehensive guides and API reference
🐛 Issues - Report bugs and request features
💬 Discussions - Ask questions and share ideas

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

🐛 Bug reports and feature requests
💻 Code contributions and pull requests
📚 Documentation improvements
🧪 Test coverage additions

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Inspired by n8n workflow automation
Built with modern PHP practices and standards
Community-driven development and feedback

papi-ai / papi-core

Maintainers

Details