AI Primitives

ThinkLang provides three AI primitives, each suited to different tasks: think, infer, and reason.

think

think is the primary primitive. It sends a prompt to the LLM and returns a typed, structured result.

Syntax

think<Type>("prompt")
think<Type>("prompt") with context: expr

Examples

Return a simple value:

let greeting = think<string>("Say hello in a creative way")

Return a structured type:

type Summary {
  @description("One-line headline")
  headline: string
  @description("Key points from the text")
  keyPoints: string[]
  @description("Overall tone: positive, negative, or neutral")
  tone: string
}

let article = "The tech sector grew significantly in 2025..."

let summary = think<Summary>("Summarize this article")
  with context: article

print summary

Return an array:

type Person {
  name: string
  role: string
  company: string?
}

type ExtractionResult {
  @maxItems(10)
  people: Person[]
  summary: string
}

let extracted = think<ExtractionResult>("Extract all people mentioned")
  with context: document

With Confidence

Request confidence scoring by wrapping the type in Confident<T>:

let result = think<Confident<Sentiment>>("Analyze the sentiment")
  with context: review

infer

infer performs lightweight inference on an existing value. It is simpler than think -- you provide a value and an optional hint, and the AI classifies, converts, or interprets it.

Syntax

infer<Type>(value)
infer<Type>(value, "hint")

Examples

Classify a message:

let priority = infer<string>("urgent: server is down!", "Classify priority as low, medium, high, or critical")

Detect a language:

let language = infer<string>("Bonjour le monde", "Detect the language")

Infer structured data:

type ContactInfo {
  name: string
  email: string?
  phone: string?
}

let info = infer<ContactInfo>("Call John at 555-0123 or email john@example.com")

reason

reason performs multi-step reasoning. You define a goal and explicit steps for the AI to follow. This produces higher-quality results for complex tasks that benefit from a structured thought process.

Syntax

reason<Type> {
  goal: "description"
  steps:
    1. "first step"
    2. "second step"
    3. "third step"
}

Example

type InvestmentAnalysis {
  recommendation: string
  riskLevel: string
  expectedReturn: string
  reasoning: string
}

let portfolio = "Tech stocks: 60%, Bonds: 20%, Real estate: 15%, Cash: 5%"
let market = "Rising interest rates, AI sector booming, housing market cooling"

let analysis = reason<InvestmentAnalysis> {
  goal: "Analyze this investment portfolio and provide recommendations"
  steps:
    1. "Evaluate the current asset allocation"
    2. "Assess market conditions impact on each asset class"
    3. "Identify risks and opportunities"
    4. "Formulate a recommendation"
  with context: {
    portfolio,
    market,
  }
}

print analysis

The steps guide the LLM through a chain-of-thought process before producing the final structured output.

Comparison

Primitive	Use case	Input	Output
think	Generate structured data from a prompt	Prompt string + optional context	Typed result
infer	Classify or interpret an existing value	Value + optional hint	Typed result
reason	Complex analysis with explicit steps	Goal + numbered steps + optional context	Typed result

All three primitives support with context, without context, guard, and on_fail clauses.