Everything in inference.sh connects to help you get work done with AI.
The Building Blocks
1┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐2│ │3│ You ──▶ Agent ──▶ Tools (Apps & Flows) ──▶ Result │4│ │5└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Apps
Apps are the building blocks. Each app does one thing well:
- Generate an image
- Transcribe audio
- Analyze text
- Process data
Apps have typed inputs and outputs. You fill in the inputs, run the app, and get results.
Browse 100+ apps in the Grid, or create your own. Use Search or the Search API to discover apps, skills, and knowledge programmatically. Agents can additionally use connector integrations (OAuth-managed services) as tools — see Tool Orchestration.
Tasks
Tasks are what happens when you run an app. Every execution creates a task that:
- Tracks progress in real-time
- Shows logs and status updates
- Stores inputs and outputs
- Can be cancelled if needed
Flows
Flows chain multiple apps together visually:
1Input ──▶ App A ──▶ App B ──▶ App C ──▶ Output- Build in a visual editor
- Connect outputs to inputs
- Deploy as a single app
- Give agents multi-step capabilities
Agents
Agents are AI assistants that can use apps and flows as tools:
- You describe what you want
- The agent plans the steps
- It picks and runs the right tools
- You get the result
Agents can even generate UI widgets when they need more information from you.
Workers & Engines
Behind the scenes, workers actually run your tasks:
- Cloud workers — Managed by inference.sh, pay-per-use
- Private workers — Run on your own hardware via an engine
You choose where things run. Your data, your rules.
Sessions
Sessions lease one worker for multiple related calls so state can persist in memory (browser automation, interpreters, multi-step interactive apps). Stateless runs use a fresh worker each time.
→ Sessions — when to use sessions, lifecycle, timeouts
Core concepts (detail)
| Topic | Guide |
|---|---|
| Apps | concepts/apps |
| Tasks | concepts/tasks |
| Flows | concepts/flows |
| Agents | concepts/agents |
| Workers | concepts/workers |
| Sessions | concepts/sessions |
| Search | concepts/search |
How They Connect
1┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐2│ Agent │3│ │4│ "Generate a logo and resize it for social media" │5│ │ │6│ ▼ │7│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │8│ │ Planning │ │9│ │ 1. Generate logo with image-gen app │ │10│ │ 2. Resize for each platform with image-resize flow │ │11│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │12│ │ │13│ ┌───────────────┴───────────────┐ │14│ ▼ ▼ │15│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │16│ │ App: │ │ Flow: │ │17│ │ DALL-E │ ────────────────▶ │ Resize │ │18│ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ │19│ │ │ │20│ ▼ ▼ │21│ [Task 1] [Tasks 2-5] │22│ │23└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘- You tell the agent what you want
- Agent plans the steps
- Agent calls apps or flows as tools
- Each execution creates tasks
- Tasks run on workers
- You get the result