---
title: "Learning Path"
description: "Recommended reading order for learning Output.ai"
---

Now that you've completed the [Getting Started](/start-here/getting-started) guide and read about [Claude Code](/start-here/claude-code), this is the recommended reading order. Each phase builds on the last — beginners can follow it straight through, experienced engineers can skip to what they need.

## Phase 1: Core Concepts

Understand the building blocks:

1. **[Workflows](/workflows)** - Where you orchestrate the work
2. **[Steps](/steps)** - Where the actual work happens
3. **[Prompts](/prompts)** - How to manage your LLM interactions
4. **[Evaluators](/evaluators)** - Quality control for your AI outputs
5. **[API Clients](/clients)** - Call external APIs

**Outcome:** You understand the architecture

---

## Phase 2: Building Real Workflows

Best practices and patterns for building real workflows:

6. **[Step Best Practices](/steps/best-practices)** - Patterns & organization
7. **[Evaluator Best Practices](/evaluators/best-practices)** - LLM-as-judge patterns
8. **[Child Workflows](/workflows/child-workflows)** - Compose workflows by calling other workflows
9. **[Workflow Context](/workflows/context)** - Understand the execution context
10. **[Running Steps in Parallel](/workflows/parallel-execution)** - How to execute steps concurrently
11. **[Credentials](/operations/credentials)** - Manage secrets and API keys across environments

**Outcome:** You can build complex, production-quality workflows

---

## Phase 3: Production Readiness

Ship with confidence:

12. **[Error Handling](/operations/error-handling)** - Retries, failures, recovery
13. **[Error Hooks](/operations/error-hooks)** - React to failures with custom logic
14. **[Testing](/operations/testing)** - Testing deterministic and non-deterministic code
15. **[Tracing](/operations/tracing)** - Observability and debugging
16. **[Cost Estimation](/costs)** - Track and control your AI spend
17. **[Evaluation Workflow](/evaluators/workflow-evaluators)** - Test workflow quality across datasets

**Outcome:** You're ready to deploy

---

## Phase 4: Integrate with Your App

Connect Output to your product:

18. **[Integration Overview](/api)** - How your app talks to Output over HTTP
19. **[API Configuration](/api/configuration)** - Base URL, ports, environment variables
20. **[Authentication](/api/authentication)** - Dev vs production auth
21. **[Error Responses](/api/errors)** - Error codes and response handling

**Outcome:** Your product can trigger and manage workflows via REST

---

## Reference (As Needed)

- **[Packages](/packages/core)** - Package documentation
- **[External Integration](/workflows/external-integration)** - Send data out, receive input while running
- **[Prompt Templating](/prompts/templating)** - Advanced prompt patterns
