Documentation
Overview

Overview

Circuit Breaker was created to address the growing need for robust, AI-powered workflow management in modern applications. As applications increasingly incorporate AI capabilities, there’s a need for a framework that can:

  1. Seamlessly Integrate AI: Handle interactions with various LLM providers while maintaining clean separation of concerns
  2. Manage Complex Workflows: Provide a declarative way to define and manage state transitions with validation
  3. Ensure Reliability: Implement proper error handling, retries, and state management for AI operations
  4. Maintain Flexibility: Allow for custom executors and easy extension of functionality

Architecture

Circuit Breaker uses a hybrid architecture combining several powerful concepts:

1. Workflow Engine

The core workflow engine is based on Petri nets, providing:

  • Formal verification capabilities
  • Clear state management
  • Transition validation
  • Comprehensive event tracking

While basic Petri nets are not Turing complete, our implementation is closer to Colored Petri Nets (CPNs) or High-level Petri Nets, balancing theoretical power with practical utility.

2. Rules Engine

A unified system for managing:

  • Validation rules
  • Transition policies
  • Business logic
  • Error handling

The rules engine provides:

  • Declarative rule definitions
  • Complex rule chains
  • Clear error reporting
  • Rule reusability

3. AI Integration Layer

A flexible system for:

  • Multiple LLM provider support
  • Automatic model selection
  • Tool integration
  • Memory management
  • Error handling with retries

4. Event System

Comprehensive tracking and auditing:

  • State transition history
  • Action execution logs
  • Error tracking
  • Audit trails

Design Philosophy

Circuit Breaker balances several key principles:

  1. Theoretical Soundness: Using formal methods (Petri nets) for workflow verification
  2. Practical Utility: Providing a clean, Ruby-like DSL for easy implementation
  3. Flexibility: Supporting custom executors and extensions
  4. Reliability: Implementing robust error handling and state management

This design allows Circuit Breaker to be:

  • Expressive enough for complex business processes
  • Analyzable for critical property verification
  • Maintainable through the workflow DSL
  • Extensible for various use cases