> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.anyformat.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> What anyformat does, how a workflow is put together, and where to go next.

anyformat reads documents and returns structured data. You describe the fields you need once. Every document you send after that comes back as data, with a confidence and a citation for each value.

## How it works

A workflow is a small graph of nodes. [Parse](/guides/nodes/parse) reads the document. [Extract](/guides/nodes/extract) pulls out the fields you defined. Add [Classify](/guides/nodes/classify), [Split](/guides/nodes/split), [Validate](/guides/nodes/validate) or an [alert](/guides/nodes/slack-alert) when the documents ask for it.

<div className="af-flow" role="img" aria-label="Parse feeds Extract">
  <div className="af-flow-row">
    <a className="af-node" href="/guides/nodes/parse">Parse</a>

    <span className="af-link" />

    <a className="af-node" href="/guides/nodes/extract">Extract</a>
  </div>
</div>

You build the workflow once, in the app or in code, and run it on every document that follows. The result is the same either way: one JSON object per document, with a value, a confidence and the evidence for each field.

## Two ways to build

* **In the app.** [Studio](/concepts/studio) is the canvas at [app.anyformat.ai](https://app.anyformat.ai). Drag nodes, define fields, drop in a document, and read the result next to the page it came from.
* **In code.** The [Python](/api-reference-v3/sdks/python) and [TypeScript](/api-reference-v3/sdks/typescript) SDKs, the [`afx` CLI](/api-reference-v3/cli) and the [REST API](/api-reference-v3/introduction) send the same graph of nodes and edges. An [MCP server](/api-reference-v3/mcp) exposes it to AI agents.

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/guides/quickstart">
    Your first workflow, end to end, in the app or in code.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Nodes" icon="cubes" href="/guides/nodes/overview">
    Every node: what it does, what it returns, what it costs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Examples" icon="lightbulb" href="/examples/index">
    Complete workflows for invoices, contracts, bank statements and more.
  </Card>

  <Card title="API reference" icon="code" href="/api-reference-v3/introduction">
    Endpoints, SDKs, CLI and MCP.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.