Quick Start Guide

Get up and running with Elsai Guardrails in minutes.

Basic Usage

Step 1: Import Required Modules

from elsai_guardrails.guardrails import LLMRails, RailsConfig

Step 2: Define Configuration

Create a YAML configuration string or file:

yaml_content = """
llm:
  engine: "openai"
  model: "gpt-4o-mini"
  api_key: "your-api-key-here"
  temperature: 0.7

guardrails:
  input_checks: true
  output_checks: true
  check_toxicity: true
  check_sensitive_data: true
  check_semantic: true
  toxicity_threshold: 0.7
  block_toxic: true
  block_sensitive_data: true
"""

Step 3: Create Rails Configuration

config = RailsConfig.from_content(yaml_content=yaml_content)

Step 4: Initialize LLMRails

rails = LLMRails(config=config)

Step 5: Generate with Guardrails

messages = [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, how are you?"}]
result = rails.generate(messages=messages)
print(result)

Complete Example

from elsai_guardrails.guardrails import LLMRails, RailsConfig

# Configuration
yaml_content = """
llm:
  engine: "openai"
  model: "gpt-4o-mini"
  api_key: "sk-..."
  temperature: 0.7

guardrails:
  input_checks: true
  output_checks: true
  check_toxicity: true
  check_sensitive_data: true
  check_semantic: true
"""

# Create and use rails
config = RailsConfig.from_content(yaml_content=yaml_content)
rails = LLMRails(config=config)

# Generate response
response = rails.generate(
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "What is artificial intelligence?"}]
)
print(response)

Using Configuration File

Instead of YAML strings, you can use a configuration file:

config.yml:

llm:
  engine: "openai"
  model: "gpt-4o-mini"
  api_key: "your-api-key"
  temperature: 0.7

guardrails:
  input_checks: true
  output_checks: true
  check_toxicity: true
  check_sensitive_data: true
  check_semantic: true
  toxicity_threshold: 0.7
  block_toxic: true
  block_sensitive_data: true

Python code:

from elsai_guardrails.guardrails import LLMRails, RailsConfig

config = RailsConfig.from_content(config_path="config.yml")
rails = LLMRails(config=config)

result = rails.generate(
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

New Features

Off-Topic Detection

Keep conversations focused on specific topics:

yaml_content = """
llm:
  engine: "openai"
  model: "gpt-4o-mini"
  api_key: "sk-..."

guardrails:
  check_off_topic: true
  block_off_topic: true
  allowed_topics:
    - name: "Customer Support"
      description: "Product questions and customer service"
"""

Learn more about Off-Topic Detection →

SQL Syntax Validation

Validate SQL queries before execution:

yaml_content = """
llm:
  engine: "openai"
  model: "gpt-4o-mini"
  api_key: "sk-..."

guardrails:
  check_sql_syntax: true
  sql_dialect: "postgresql"  # or mysql, sqlite, sqlserver, etc.
"""

Learn more about SQL Syntax Validation →

Next Steps

• Configuration Guide - Learn about all configuration options
• Python API - Explore the full API
• Examples - See more examples
• What's New - Latest features and updates