Baml Expert

BAML expert

BAML = small DSL for typed LLM calls. Author .baml files in baml_src/, run baml-cli generate, get a typed Python package at baml_client/. The generated b object exposes each function as a typed method. BAML handles prompt rendering, HTTP, retries, fallbacks, streaming, and Schema-Aligned Parsing (SAP) — robust coercion of messy LLM output into typed objects.

Use this skill for any task touching .baml files, baml_client, or calls into it. Read the full repo layout first if unclear: the convention is baml_src/*.baml + generated baml_client/ (gitignored; regenerated on every change).

Mental model (critical)

baml_src/*.baml  ──baml-cli generate──▶  baml_client/   (Pydantic + async/sync client)

At call time, for each function:

1. Render the prompt (Minijinja).
2. Build HTTP request for the configured provider.
3. Apply retry / fallback / round-robin / timeout policy.
4. Parse raw output with SAP — tolerant of missing quotes, trailing commas, markdown fences, chain-of-thought preamble, fractions as floats, etc.
5. Return typed object OR raise a typed error (BamlValidationError, BamlClientError, BamlTimeoutError, BamlAbortError).

Never edit baml_client/. It regenerates. Edit .baml files and rerun baml-cli generate.

Workflow for typical tasks

When the user asks for a change in a BAML project, do this:

1. Read the BAML sources first. ls baml_src/, then read the relevant .baml files. They're plain text, globally visible to each other, no imports needed.
2. Check the generator config. Open the file containing generator blocks (often generators.baml or main.baml). Note output_type (expect python/pydantic), output_dir, and version. The version must match the installed baml-py version exactly, or generate will fail without --no-version-check.
3. Make the .baml change. Follow the syntax rules below.
4. Regenerate. baml-cli generate (or baml-cli generate --from <path-to-baml_src> if not cwd). VSCode auto-regenerates on save if the extension is installed.
5. Update the Python call site if signatures changed.
6. Add or update a test. Tests live in .baml files as test blocks. Run with baml-cli test -i '<FnName>::<TestName>' or baml-cli test for all.

Core .baml syntax

Function

function ExtractResume(resume_text: string) -> Resume {
  client GPT5Mini                     // named client, or inline: client "openai/gpt-5-mini"
  prompt #"
    Extract info from this resume.

    {{ ctx.output_format }}            {# ALWAYS include — renders the return-type schema #}

    {{ _.role("user") }}
    {{ resume_text }}
  "#
}

Rules:

• Top-level names are PascalCase by convention (functions, classes, enums, clients, tests). The parser accepts other identifiers, but the codebase reads PascalCase everywhere — follow suit in new code.
• Function params use colons (x: int). Class fields do not (name string).
• #"..."# is the prompt literal; ##"..."## when the body itself contains #".
• {{ ctx.output_format }} is non-optional for structured outputs. Omitting it is the #1 newbie bug — the model doesn't know the shape and parse fails.

Class / enum

class Education {
  school string
  degree string
  year int @description("Year of graduation")
}

enum Seniority {
  JUNIOR @description("0-2 years")
  MID
  SENIOR @alias("staff_engineer")   // how the LLM sees it
  STAFF @skip                        // hidden from prompt + parser
  @@alias("Level")                   // class/enum-level alias to the model
  @@dynamic                          // allow TypeBuilder additions at runtime
}

class Resume {
  name string
  skills string[]
  education Education[]
  seniority Seniority
  bio string?                        // optional
}

Hard rules:

• No colon between field name and type.
• No inheritance — compose via nested classes.
• Optional arrays/maps ARE supported (string[]?, map<string, string>? — added via #1251). Public docs at fern/03-reference/baml/types.mdx still incorrectly say "arrays cannot be optional"; trust the behavior. That said, prefer non-optional T[] + empty-list convention unless you specifically need to distinguish "missing" from "empty".
• Enum values start with a letter; no inline enum definitions.

Types

• Primitives: bool, int, float, string, null.
• Optional: T?. Union: T | U — order matters (tries left-to-right; int | string parses "1" as int).
• List: T[]. Map: map<K, V> where K ∈ string / enum / literal string.
• Literals: "red" | "green", 1 | 2 | 3.
• Aliases: type Graph = map<string, string[]> (recursion ok via containers).
• Media: image, audio, pdf, video (keywords; can't name a var image).
• Not supported: any, json, datetime, tuples, sets. For dates use string @description("ISO-8601").

Attributes cheat sheet

Field-level (@):

Class/enum-level (@@): @@alias, @@description, @@dynamic, @@assert, @@check, @@stream.done.

Client

Minimal shorthand (OpenAI defaults): client "openai/gpt-5-mini". Named client<llm> X { provider ... options { model ... api_key env.FOO ... } } when you need retry policies, timeouts, headers, fallback, or round-robin. Providers: openai, openai-responses, anthropic, google-ai, vertex-ai, aws-bedrock, azure, openai-generic (vLLM/Ollama/OpenRouter/Together/Groq/LiteLLM/LMStudio), plus composite fallback and round-robin. Full syntax, retry policies, timeout MIN-wins composition, provider quirks → references/providers.md.

Test

test BasicResume {
  functions [ExtractResume]
  args {
    resume_text #"
      John Doe
      Python, Rust
      UC Berkeley, B.S. CS, 2020
    "#
  }
  @@check(nonempty_name, {{ this.name|length > 0 }})
  @@assert({{ this.seniority == "JUNIOR" or this.seniority == "MID" }})
  @@assert({{ _.latency_ms < 30000 }})
}

Jinja in tests: this is the result. Also _.result, _.checks.<name>, _.latency_ms. Tests can target multiple functions that share a signature. See references/testing.md for full patterns, multimodal tests, TypeBuilder injection, CLI flags.

Template string (reusable prompt fragment)

template_string PrintMessages(messages: Message[]) #"
  {% for m in messages %}
    {{ _.role(m.role) }}
    {{ m.content }}
  {% endfor %}
"#

Prompts: Minijinja + BAML magic

• {{ expr }} output, {% stmt %} control flow, {# comment #}.
• Always include {{ ctx.output_format }} for structured output. It renders the return type as a compact schema tuned to survive in prompts better than JSON Schema.
• Tunable: {{ ctx.output_format(prefix="Answer in JSON:", always_hoist_enums=true, or_splitter=" or ", hoist_classes="auto") }}.
• render_null_as (0.223.0+, PR #3822) replaces the null marker on nullable members: {{ ctx.output_format(render_null_as="omit") }} renders string or omit, which reads as an instruction to drop the key rather than emit null. Reach for it when a model keeps returning literal null strings.
• {{ ctx.client }} → {provider, model, name} for provider-conditional prompting.
• {{ _.role("user") }} / {{ _.role("system") }} — split the prompt into messages. Default is a single system message (or user when images present).
• Role with metadata (Anthropic prompt caching): {{ _.role("user", cache_control={"type": "ephemeral"}) }} — requires options { allowed_role_metadata ["cache_control"] } on the client.
• Filters: standard Jinja plus value|format(type="yaml" | "json" | "toon") (BAML-aware serialization, respects aliases), value|regex_match(pattern).
• String formatting: Python-style .format() (e.g. "{:,}".format(1234567)). |format is the serialization filter — don't confuse.

Python integration

Install + codegen

pip install baml-py
baml-cli init                     # first time: scaffolds baml_src/ + generators.baml
baml-cli generate                 # emits baml_client/

Wire into build: npm run-style task or uv run baml-cli generate in a pre-commit or justfile target. baml_client/ should be in .gitignore.

Call sites

# Default: sync client (if generator has default_client_mode "sync")
from baml_client import b
from baml_client.types import Resume                         # Pydantic models live here

resume: Resume = b.ExtractResume("...resume text...")

# Async (always generated; import from async_client)
from baml_client.async_client import b as ab
resume = await ab.ExtractResume("...")

# Per-call overrides via baml_options (since 0.216)
resume = b.ExtractResume("...", baml_options={
    "client": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",   # override client just for this call
    "collector": my_collector,
    "tb": my_type_builder,
    "tags": {"req_id": "abc"},
    "abort_controller": controller,
})

# Reusable overrides
cheap_b = b.with_options(client="openai/gpt-4o-mini")

Important import paths — these are NOT in baml_client, they're in the SDK:

from baml_py import Collector, ClientRegistry, AbortController
from baml_client.type_builder import TypeBuilder     # TypeBuilder IS from baml_client

Streaming

stream = b.stream.ExtractResume(text)                # sync generator, yields partial types
for partial in stream:
    # partial is PartialResume with optional fields; numbers arrive only at end
    render(partial)
final: Resume = stream.get_final_response()

# Async
async for partial in ab.stream.ExtractResume(text): ...
final = await ab.stream.ExtractResume(text).get_final_response()

Partial types live at baml_client.partial_types. Semantic streaming attributes (@stream.done, @stream.not_null, @stream.with_state) shape how partials arrive. See references/streaming.md.

Multimodal

from baml_py import Image, Audio, Pdf, Video

img = Image.from_url("https://...")                  # or from_base64("image/png", b64)
pdf = Pdf.from_base64("application/pdf", b64)        # PDFs: NO url form. Always base64.
result = b.DescribeImage(myImg=img)

In .baml, declare the param as image / audio / pdf / video.

Error handling

from baml_py.errors import BamlValidationError, BamlTimeoutError, BamlClientError

try:
    resume = b.ExtractResume(text)
except BamlValidationError as e:
    # e.prompt, e.raw_output, e.detailed_message available
    ...

Full error class hierarchy + the LLM-fixup retry pattern: references/python-integration.md.

Advanced: ClientRegistry, TypeBuilder, Collector

For runtime client overrides (A/B tests, per-tenant routing), dynamic classes (@@dynamic runtime field injection), and observability via Collector (HTTP request/response inspection, usage tracking, Boundary Studio), see references/python-integration.md.

Tests — first-class workflow

BAML tests are authoritative for regression-testing LLM functions. Run them before shipping prompt changes.

baml-cli test                              # all tests
baml-cli test -i 'ExtractResume::Basic*'   # glob
baml-cli test -x pattern                   # exclude
baml-cli test --parallel 8
baml-cli test --list                       # show without running
baml-cli test --dotenv-path .env.test

Exit codes: 0 pass, 1 fail, 2 human-eval-required, 3 cancelled, 4 no tests found.

Assertions inside tests:

• @@check(name, {{ expr }}) — named soft check, result visible in report.
• @@assert({{ expr }}) — hard assertion, fails the test.
• Jinja context: this / _.result (return value), _.checks.<name>, _.latency_ms.

See references/testing.md for multimodal inputs, type_builder in tests, templated args, and CI patterns.

Debugging

1. BAML_LOG — set to debug for full request/response trace, info for per-call summary (default), off to silence.

   BAML_LOG=debug python my_script.py
   

2. BOUNDARY_MAX_LOG_CHUNK_CHARS=3000 — truncate noisy payloads.
3. VSCode playground — Cursor/VSCode with Boundary extension shows rendered prompt and raw cURL for every test. Single most useful debug view. CodeLens "Open Playground" above each function.
4. Collector — inspect programmatically (see above). .calls[-1].http_request is the exact bytes sent.
5. Boundary Studio — BOUNDARY_API_KEY ships traces. Web UI at studio.boundaryml.com (v1 at app.boundaryml.com is deprecated end-of-March 2026).

When parse fails: read BamlValidationError.detailed_message — it includes the parse attempt chain with reasons, not just the final error.

Most-common gotchas

Syntax rules covered above (class fields no colon, union order, optional arrays, {{ ctx.output_format }} required) — not repeated here. These are runtime/integration-only:

• baml_client/ is gitignored + generated. Never edit. Regenerate after every .baml change.
• Generator version must match installed baml-py. Mismatch → generate fails unless --no-version-check. Pin them together.
• Docs staleness: public types page still claims "arrays cannot be optional" but optional lists/maps landed in #1251. Trust the code + CHANGELOG.
• Env vars are lazy. Missing OPENAI_API_KEY only errors at call time. baml-cli test auto-loads .env (0.214.0+); use --dotenv-path for alternates.
• ClientRegistry is imported from baml_py, not baml_client. Easy miss.
• PDFs require base64. No URL form, any provider.
• Numbers never stream partially. int/float fields are null until final.
• Composite-client timeouts take the MIN of parent + child. Long parent timeout doesn't loosen a strict child.
• o1 / o1-mini: set max_tokens null, rely on max_completion_tokens. openai-responses doesn't support o1-mini — use openai.
• Anthropic adapter: only the first system message is used; subsequent system roles cast to assistant. Check raw cURL.
• Media files in tests must live under baml_src/ — external paths won't resolve.

When to go deeper

Load these references only when the task involves them:

• references/providers.md — full provider catalogue, provider-specific options, Anthropic prompt caching, AWS Bedrock, Vertex w/ Anthropic models.
• references/streaming.md — partial-type mechanics, @stream.* attribute truth table, cancellation patterns, FastAPI/async server integration.
• references/testing.md — multimodal test inputs, TypeBuilder in tests, template string args, glob/exclude, CI integration, --require-human-eval.
• references/python-integration.md — ClientRegistry, TypeBuilder, Collector, error class hierarchy, LLM-fixup pattern, cancellation.
• references/cli.md — baml-cli init/generate/test/serve/dev/fmt/grep/describe/optimize/run with all flags.
• references/canary-features.md — shipped-in-0.221.0 features the public docs still omit (lambdas, ?./??, ns_* namespaces, void returns, baml grep/describe, baml run VM, BEPs). Load when the project pins baml-py>=0.221.
• references/sources.md — dated index of official docs, spec URLs, PR references (for freshen audits).