Groq Core Workflow A: Chat, Tools & Structured Output

Overview

Primary integration patterns for Groq: chat completions, tool/function calling, JSON mode, and structured outputs. Groq's LPU delivers sub-200ms time-to-first-token, making these patterns viable for real-time user-facing features. This skill walks through five workflow steps; the lean skeleton lives here, and the full copy-paste code lives in references/.

Prerequisites

• Install the SDK with npm install groq-sdk.
• Set GROQ_API_KEY in the environment (see Authentication below).
• Familiarity with the Groq model line-up and which model fits each task.

Authentication

Groq authenticates via an API key. Create one at console.groq.com/keys and export it as GROQ_API_KEY; the SDK reads it automatically, so new Groq() needs no explicit argument. Never hardcode the key — read it from the environment (or a secrets manager) so it stays out of source control.

Model Selection for This Workflow