Tools: Dify Chatbot Studio
Open source studio for building chatbots and AI agents
screenshot of an app showing a flow chart interface and several text fields

Dify.AI is an open source (and also commercial) tool for building chatbots and AI-enabled workflows. The chatbot on this site was built using Dify, and we use it in all of our Bot-Builder Workshop classes. Interested in a Dify instance for your library's own chatbot? Get in touch!

Dify is very powerful - we use about 5% of its capabilities in our intro-level build-a-bot classes. One of the neat things about Dify is the ability to build applications that use AI without a chat interface, though. You can create all sorts of interactive tools and apps like ALT text generator, cataloging assistant, etc.

 

flow chart interface with four connecting boxes

 

Here are some of the core Dify features that we use - we're not including any of the advanced features.

  • Visual Workflow Builder
    • Drag-and-drop steps like prompts, APIs, tools
    • Configure branching, conditional flows
    • Rapid prototyping and layout of full workflows
  • Multi-Model & Plugin Support
    • Use models from different providers (OpenAI, Llama, Claude, etc.)
    • Add external tools and plugins (web search, file ingestion, custom APIs)
    • Switch models to optimize cost, latency, or specialization
  • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) & Data Handling
    • Import documents (PDF, Word, web, etc.)
    • Create vector indexes for semantic search
    • Use retrieved content to ground model responses