LLM integration for existing products and workflows

A useful integration has a narrow purpose. It might summarize a record, classify an input, answer from approved documents, draft content, or choose an allowed tool. The product must define the boundary before choosing a model.

I keep model requests behind typed application interfaces where practical. This makes validation, testing, provider changes, fallback behavior, and cost controls easier to manage.

Different models offer different latency, capability, context, modality, and cost characteristics. A product may need one model, a preferred model with fallback, or user-controlled selection.

Routing should remain understandable. I avoid adding providers without a product reason. Each new path increases testing, monitoring, pricing, and failure complexity.

Evaluation cases should represent real product inputs. They need expected behavior, acceptable variations, and known failure conditions. A demo prompt is not a sufficient regression suite.

The handover explains provider dependencies, prompt and schema contracts, data handling, operating limits, and the process for changing models safely.