Classify

Classify reads the parsed document and picks one of the categories you define. Each category is an outgoing branch, so a mixed inbox of invoices and receipts can flow to an Extract node built for each kind. It lives in the Intelligence section of the Studio palette. A Classify node needs at least one category: an id, a name and a description the model reads. Every edge leaving the node names the category it fires for.

The node

{
  "id": "classify_1",
  "type": "classify",
  "categories": [
    { "id": "INVOICE", "name": "Invoice", "description": "A vendor invoice requesting payment." },
    { "id": "RECEIPT", "name": "Receipt", "description": "A point-of-sale receipt for a completed payment." }
  ]
}

import os

from anyformat.sdk import Client
from anyformat.workflow import ClassifyCategory, Schema

client = Client(api_key=os.environ["ANYFORMAT_API_KEY"])

invoice = ClassifyCategory(id="INVOICE", name="Invoice", description="A vendor invoice requesting payment.")
receipt = ClassifyCategory(id="RECEIPT", name="Receipt", description="A point-of-sale receipt for a completed payment.")

workflow = (
    client.workflow("Invoice or Receipt")
    .parse()
    .classify(invoice, receipt)
    .extract([Schema.string("vendor", "Vendor name")], branch=invoice)
    .extract([Schema.string("merchant", "Merchant name")], branch=receipt)
    .create()
)

import { Anyformat, Schema } from "@anyformat/sdk";

const af = new Anyformat({ apiKey: process.env.ANYFORMAT_API_KEY! });

const invoice = { id: "INVOICE", name: "Invoice", description: "A vendor invoice requesting payment." };
const receipt = { id: "RECEIPT", name: "Receipt", description: "A point-of-sale receipt for a completed payment." };

const workflow = await af
  .workflow("Invoice or Receipt")
  .parse()
  .classify([invoice, receipt])
  .extract([Schema.string("vendor", "Vendor name")], { branch: invoice })
  .extract([Schema.string("merchant", "Merchant name")], { branch: receipt })
  .create();

In the API, routing lives on the edges. An edge that leaves a Classify node must set branch to a category id, not its name:

"edges": [
  { "source": "parse_1",    "target": "classify_1" },
  { "source": "classify_1", "target": "extract_1", "branch": "INVOICE" },
  { "source": "classify_1", "target": "extract_2", "branch": "RECEIPT" }
]

The SDKs write these edges for you. branch accepts the category object or its id string. Once a workflow has a Classify node, every extract() call needs a branch. The same node with extra instructions for the classifier:

{
  "id": "classify_1",
  "type": "classify",
  "user_prompt": "Classify by the document title. A credit note counts as an invoice.",
  "categories": [
    { "id": "INVOICE", "name": "Invoice", "description": "A vendor invoice requesting payment." },
    { "id": "RECEIPT", "name": "Receipt", "description": "A point-of-sale receipt for a completed payment." }
  ]
}

# The Python SDK's classify() takes categories only. Set user_prompt in the API JSON or in Studio.

// The TypeScript SDK's classify() takes categories only. Set user_prompt in the API JSON or in Studio.

In Studio

Click the Classify node on the canvas to open its panel. Add a category with its Type (the name) and Description. The Describe classification process box is the user_prompt. Each category appears as a port on the node; drag from a port to the node that handles that category.

Options

categories is required. user_prompt is optional.

Field	Type	Default	What it does
`categories`	array of category	required	At least one. Each category has `id`, `name` and `description`, all non-empty strings.
`categories[].id`	string	required	Stable id. Edges route on it: an outgoing edge’s `branch` must equal one category’s `id`.
`categories[].name`	string	required	The name shown to the model. Classification keys off it, so it must be unique within the node.
`categories[].description`	string	required	What the category covers, written for the model. The more distinct the descriptions, the better the split between categories.
`user_prompt`	string	`null`	Extra instructions inserted between the classifier’s system prompt and the document text, for example a tie-break rule between two similar categories.

The schema the API accepts is generated from the same source: Classify node schema.

What it returns

Classify fills the classifications section of the run results, one verdict per Classify node that ran:

"classifications": [
  {
    "category": "Invoice",
    "confidence": 100.0,
    "evidence": "The document is explicitly titled \"INVOICE\" and includes invoice number INV-2026-9001."
  }
]

category is the category name, not its id. confidence is on a 0 to 100 scale, null when no score was measured. evidence is one free-form string the classifier wrote, not a list of snippets; it is null when none was captured. The Extract node on the chosen branch fills extractions[] as usual: one entry, with split_name and partition set to null, because Classify routes the whole document and does not split it. See Extract.

Connects to

Direction	Nodes
Fed by	Parse
Feeds	Extract, Split, Knowledge

Each outgoing edge carries one category id, and each category id appears on one edge at most. Several categories may point at the same Extract node. A workflow has one Classify node at most in the SDK builders. To split a file after classifying it, connect one category to a Split node. In the SDKs, split(..., route_from=<category>) names that category.

Billing

Billed at 10 credits per page. Full price list: How credits work.

Examples

Receipt scanning: invoices and receipts in one inbox, one Extract per kind.
Email lead extraction: sort incoming mail before extracting.
Bank statement processing: Classify feeding a Split node.

Get started

Nodes

Workflows

Schema & fields

Documents

Outputs & integrations

Health

Billing

The node

In Studio

Options

What it returns

Connects to

Billing

Examples

​The node

​In Studio

​Options

​What it returns

​Connects to

​Billing

​Examples

The node

In Studio

Options

What it returns

Connects to

Billing

Examples