Terms you'll encounter authoring .dip files and using the dippin toolchain.
Workflow — A directed graph of nodes and edges defined in a single .dip file. Has a name, goal, start node, and exit node. One workflow per file.
Node — A step in the pipeline. Every node has an ID and a kind. Kinds include agent, human, tool, conditional, parallel, fan_in, subgraph, and manager_loop.
Edge — A connection between two nodes, written A -> B in the edges block. May carry a when condition, a label, a weight, and a restart: flag.
Condition — A predicate attached to an edge using the when keyword. Syntax: ctx.<field> <op> <value> with operators =, !=, contains, and not contains. Complementary pairs (success/fail, contains/not-contains) are detected as exhaustive automatically.
Defaults — A workflow-wide block setting values inherited by all nodes unless overridden. Common keys: model, provider, fidelity, retry, tool_commands_allow, tool_denylist_add.
Goal — A short string at the top of a workflow stating the pipeline’s purpose. Surfaces in dippin doctor reports and is shown to operators.
Start node — The single node executed first when the workflow runs. Declared via start: in the workflow header.
Exit node — The single node that terminates the workflow. Declared via exit: in the workflow header. All paths must reach it (lint warns otherwise).
agent — An LLM call. Has a prompt: (single line or multiline indented block), optional model:, provider:, temperature:, tools:, and outputs:.
human — A gate that requires user input. Has a mode: (freeform, choice, confirm) and an optional timeout:.
tool — A shell command. Has a command: and optional timeout:. Constrained by tool_commands_allow / tool_denylist_add defaults.
conditional — A branching node with multiple outbound edges. Routes based on context fields without an LLM call.
parallel — Fans out execution to N children that run concurrently. Pairs with fan_in.
fan_in — Joins parallel branches. Has a strategy: (all, any, quorum) and an optional quorum: count.
subgraph — Embeds another .dip file by reference. Uses ref: to point to the target file. The flatten package resolves these into a single flat workflow for export.
manager_loop — A supervisory loop node that runs a child workflow repeatedly under a budget, surfaced in v0.21–v0.22.
.dip — The source file extension. Plain text, indentation-based, parsed by the dippin CLI.
.dipx — A bundle format introduced in v0.24 that packs a workflow tree (root .dip + referenced subgraphs) into a single verifiable file. Created with dippin pack, expanded with dippin unpack.
.test.json — A scenario test file. Injects context values, asserts on execution paths, and reports edge coverage. Run with dippin test.
DIP code — A diagnostic identifier emitted by dippin lint and dippin validate. DIP001–DIP009 are structural errors (parse / shape failures). DIP101–DIP133 are semantic warnings (style, correctness hints, model catalog issues).
Exhaustive conditions — A pair of edge conditions detected as covering all outcomes (e.g., when ctx.status = success + when ctx.status = fail). Suppresses DIP101 / DIP102 warnings.
Lint — dippin lint runs semantic checks and emits DIP1xx codes. Does not exit non-zero by default; CI typically pipes through --fail-on warning.
Validate — dippin validate runs structural checks and emits DIP0xx codes. Exits non-zero on any error.
parse — Parse a .dip file into the JSON IR for downstream tooling.
format — Rewrite a .dip file in canonical form (2-space indent, sorted keys where order is insignificant).
doctor — Grade a workflow A–F. Combines lint, coverage, unused detection, and cost into a health report.
cost — Estimate per-run cost based on the model catalog and prompt sizes. Pricing is verified against provider docs and dated in source.
optimize — Suggest cheaper model alternatives that preserve the workflow’s structural shape.
simulate — Walk every reachable path of a workflow without making real LLM calls. Used by test under the hood.
migrate — Convert Graphviz DOT pipeline files to Dippin. Pairs with validate-migration to verify structural parity.
pack / unpack / inspect — Produce, expand, and introspect .dipx bundles.
IR — The intermediate representation. A set of Go structs in the ir package that all downstream consumers program against.
LSP — The Dippin Language Server Protocol implementation under lsp/. Provides hover docs, go-to-definition, completions, and live diagnostics in any LSP-aware editor.
WASM playground — The browser-side parse / lint / format experience at /playground.html. The dippin core compiled to WebAssembly under cmd/wasm/.
Tracker — The runtime that executes Dippin workflows. Consumes the JSON IR and installs dippin via go install ...@latest.