---
id: T01
parent: S06
milestone: M001
provides:
  - "LLMClient class with async complete() for structured Pydantic output"
  - "create_llm_client factory with Ollama health check"
  - "Dual retry: Instructor validation (3x) + tenacity transient (3x)"
  - "Provider-agnostic model name composition (ollama_chat, openai, bedrock, anthropic)"
requires: []
affects: []
key_files: []
key_decisions: []
patterns_established: []
observability_surfaces: []
drill_down_paths: []
duration: 5min
verification_result: passed
completed_at: 2026-03-11
blocker_discovered: false
---
# T01: 06-llm-integration 01

**# Phase 6 Plan 1: LLM Client Summary**

## What Happened

# Phase 6 Plan 1: LLM Client Summary

**Async LLMClient with Instructor + LiteLLM for structured Pydantic output, dual retry layers, and Ollama health checking**

## Performance

- **Duration:** 5 min
- **Started:** 2026-03-11T03:05:19Z
- **Completed:** 2026-03-11T03:11:12Z
- **Tasks:** 2
- **Files modified:** 7

## Accomplishments
- LLMClient class with generic complete(messages, response_model, temperature?) returning validated Pydantic objects
- Dual retry: Instructor validation retries (3x, feeds errors back to LLM) + tenacity transient retries (3x, exponential backoff 1s/2s/4s)
- create_llm_client factory with Ollama health check (reachability + model availability via /api/tags)
- Provider-agnostic model name composition: ollama_chat/, openai passthrough, generic prefix for bedrock/anthropic
- 18 unit tests covering all PIPE-06 behaviors

## Task Commits

Each task was committed atomically:

1. **Task 1: Install dependencies, create test scaffolding and LLMClient module** - `78f1e7a` (feat)
2. **Task 2: Update pipeline exports and run full suite** - `8a77930` (chore)

## Files Created/Modified
- `src/policyfoundry/pipeline/llm.py` - LLMClient class, create_llm_client factory, health check, model name composition, retry logic
- `src/policyfoundry/pipeline/__init__.py` - Public exports for LLMClient and create_llm_client
- `tests/test_pipeline/__init__.py` - Test package init
- `tests/test_pipeline/conftest.py` - Shared fixtures (mock_llm_config, mock_instructor_client, sample_messages)
- `tests/test_pipeline/test_llm.py` - 18 unit tests for all PIPE-06 behaviors
- `pyproject.toml` - Added instructor[litellm] dependency
- `uv.lock` - Updated lockfile with 43 new packages

## Decisions Made
- Used `instructor.from_litellm(acompletion, mode=instructor.Mode.JSON)` for async structured output -- JSON mode chosen for maximum provider compatibility
- Used `ollama_chat/` prefix (not `ollama/`) for Ollama models -- chat endpoint produces better structured JSON
- Added `pyright: ignore` comments for litellm dynamic exception types and instructor dynamic client -- consistent with project pattern for flexible types
- Health check only runs for Ollama provider -- cloud providers skipped (no universal health check API)
- Used `tenacity @retry` decorator for transient retries -- already a dependency of both instructor and litellm

## Deviations from Plan

None - plan executed exactly as written.

## Issues Encountered
None

## User Setup Required
None - no external service configuration required.

## Next Phase Readiness
- LLMClient is ready for Phase 7 pipeline stages to call `client.complete(messages, ResponseModel)`
- create_llm_client factory creates ready-to-use client from LLMConfig
- All error paths produce PipelineError with structured error_codes for CLI handling

## Self-Check: PASSED

All created files verified present. All commit hashes verified in git log.

---
*Phase: 06-llm-integration*
*Completed: 2026-03-11*
