Rivet Has a Free API: A Visual Programming IDE for Building AI Agent Graphs

#ai #programming #agents #lowcode

Rivet is a visual programming environment for building, testing, and debugging AI agent workflows. You create AI pipelines by connecting nodes in a graph — like Node-RED but for LLM applications.

Why Rivet Matters

Building AI agents in code means blind debugging: you cannot see intermediate outputs, token usage, or where the pipeline fails. Rivet visualizes every step.

What you get for free:

Visual graph editor for AI pipelines
Real-time execution visualization
Support for OpenAI, Anthropic, and local models
Subgraphs (reusable AI components)
Built-in prompt testing and evaluation
TypeScript SDK for production deployment
Node types: LLM, text, code, conditions, loops

Quick Start

# Install the desktop app from rivet.ironcladapp.com
# Or use the TypeScript SDK
npm install @ironclad/rivet-node

Visual Graph Components

[User Input] → [Prompt Template] → [Claude/GPT] → [Extract JSON] → [Output]
                     ↑                    |
              [System Prompt]      [If Error] → [Retry with different prompt]

Each node is configurable:

Chat Node: Call any LLM (GPT-4, Claude, Llama)
Text Node: Template with variables
Code Node: Run JavaScript for transformations
If/Else Node: Conditional branching
Loop Node: Iterate over arrays
Subgraph Node: Reuse entire pipelines

TypeScript SDK (Production)

import { runGraph, loadProjectFromFile } from "@ironclad/rivet-node";

// Load your visual graph
const project = await loadProjectFromFile("my-agent.rivet-project");

// Run it programmatically
const result = await runGraph(project, {
  graph: "Main",
  inputs: {
    userMessage: { type: "string", value: "Analyze this data..." },
  },
  context: {},
  openAiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
});

console.log(result.output.value);

Node Types

Node	Purpose
Chat	Call LLM (GPT, Claude, Llama)
Text	Template strings with variables
Prompt	System/user/assistant messages
Extract JSON	Parse structured output
Code	Run JavaScript
If/Else	Conditional logic
Loop	Iterate over arrays
Subgraph	Reuse pipelines
HTTP	Call external APIs
Vector Store	RAG retrieval