Structured data extraction and instruction calling with ML, LLM and Vision LLM
π Try Sparrow Online | π Quick Start | π οΈ Installation | π Examples | π€ Agents
Production-ready structured data extraction powered by ML, LLMs & Vision LLMs. Turn invoices, receipts, statements, forms and images into clean structured data.
Sparrow is an API-first platform built for enterprise document intelligence. It provides RESTful APIs for structured data extraction, instruction processing, and multi-agent workflow orchestration β all running on your own infrastructure with no external API calls or cloud dependencies.
Platform capabilities:
- Structured Extraction API: Submit documents via REST and receive validated JSON β integrate directly into any backend or data pipeline
- Instruction Processing: Beyond document extraction β text processing, validation, and decision making via the instruction inference API
- Agent Framework: Orchestrate multi-step workflows with custom agents, visual monitoring via Prefect, and robust error handling
- Pluggable Pipelines: Mix and match Vision LLM (Sparrow Parse), Text LLM (Sparrow Instructor), and Agent pipelines depending on the task
- Multiple Backends: MLX on Apple Silicon, vLLM on NVIDIA, Ollama, Hugging Face β same API surface across all
The web UI provides a visual interface on top of the same API:
- Drag & Drop: Upload documents directly
- Real-time Processing: See results instantly
- Data Query: JSON based schema for data query
- Structured Output: JSON structured output
- Result Annotation: View bounding boxes
- β¨ Key Features
- ποΈ Architecture
- π Quickstart
- π οΈ Installation
- π Examples
- π» CLI Usage
- π API Usage
- π€ Sparrow Agent
- π Dashboard
- π§ Pipeline Comparison
- β‘ Performance Tips
- π Troubleshooting
- β Star History
- π License
π― Universal Document Processing: Handle invoices, receipts, forms, bank statements, tables
π§ Pluggable Architecture: Mix and match different pipelines (Sparrow Parse, Instructor, Agents)
π₯οΈ Multiple Backends: MLX (Apple Silicon), Ollama, vLLM, Docker, Hugging Face Cloud GPU
π± Multi-format Support: Images (PNG, JPG) and multi-page PDFs
π¨ Schema Validation: JSON schema-based extraction with automatic validation
π API-First Design: RESTful APIs for easy integration
π¬ Instruction Calling: Text processing, validation, decision making with GPT-OSS, Mistral, Qwen 3.6, etc.
π Visual Monitoring: Built-in dashboard and agent workflow tracking
π Enterprise Ready: Rate limiting, usage analytics, commercial licensing available
π Local Vision LLMs: Mistral, Qwen 3.6, DeepSeek OCR, dots.ocr, Gemma 4, etc.
| Component | Purpose | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Sparrow ML LLM | Main API engine | Document processing pipelines |
| Sparrow Parse | Vision LLM library | Structured JSON extraction |
| Sparrow Agents | Workflow orchestration | Complex multi-step processing |
| Sparrow OCR | Text recognition | OCR preprocessing |
| Sparrow UI | Web interface | Interactive document processing |
- Python 3.12.10+ (use
pyenvfor version management) - macOS (for MLX backend) or Linux/Windows (for other backends)
- GPU (make sure GPU have enough memory to run selected Vision LLM)
# 1. Install pyenv and Python 3.12.10
pyenv install 3.12.10
pyenv global 3.12.10
# 2. Create virtual environment
python -m venv .env_sparrow_parse
source .env_sparrow_parse/bin/activate # Linux/Mac
# or .env_sparrow_parse\Scripts\activate # Windows
# 3. Install Sparrow Parse pipeline
git clone https://github.com/katanaml/sparrow.git
cd sparrow/sparrow-ml/llm
pip install -r requirements_sparrow_parse.txt
# 4. For macOS: Install poppler for PDF processing
brew install poppler
# 5. Start the API server
python api.pyBefore running pip install -r requirements_sparrow_parse.txt, check your platform. If you are on macOS and want to run MLX backend, go to requirements_sparrow_parse.txt and make sure sparrow-parse[mlx] libary reference is defined. If you are running Sparrow on Linux/Windows, make sure to use sparrow-parse library reference, this will skip MLX related libraries.
# Extract data from a bonds table
./sparrow.sh '[{"instrument_name":"str", "valuation":0}]' \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--options mlx \
--options mlx-community/Qwen2.5-VL-72B-Instruct-4bit \
--file-path "data/bonds_table.png"Result:
{
"data": [
{"instrument_name": "UNITS BLACKROCK...", "valuation": 19049},
{"instrument_name": "UNITS ISHARES...", "valuation": 83488}
],
"valid": "true"
}Use --options mlx for MLX backend, --options ollama for Ollama backend, --options vllm for vLLM backend. Make sure to provide correct Vision LLM model name, download model first separately with MLX, vLLM or Ollama.
# 1. Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/katanaml/sparrow.git
cd sparrowπ For complete installation instructions, see our detailed environment setup guide.
- Python Environment: Install Python 3.12.10 using pyenv
- Virtual Environments: Create separate environments for different pipelines:
.env_sparrow_parse- for Sparrow Parse (Vision LLM).env_instructor- for Instructor (Text LLM).env_ocr- for OCR service (optional)
- System Dependencies: Install poppler for PDF processing
- Requirements: Install pipeline-specific dependencies, for example:
pip install -r requirements_sparrow_parse.txt
macOS:
brew install poppler # Required for PDF processingUbuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get install poppler-utils libpoppler-cpp-devApple Silicon: MLX backend available for optimal performance
NVIDIA/AMD GPU: Use vLLM or Ollama backend
CPU Only: Use smaller models or Hugging Face cloud backend
# Test installation
python api.py --port 8002
# Visit http://localhost:8002/api/v1/sparrow-llm/docs# Extract all data from bank statement
./sparrow.sh "*" \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--options mlx \
--options mlx-community/Qwen2.5-VL-72B-Instruct-4bit \
--file-path "data/bank_statement.pdf"π View Complete JSON Output
{
"bank": "First Platypus Bank",
"address": "1234 Kings St., New York, NY 12123",
"account_holder": "Mary G. Orta",
"account_number": "1234567890123",
"statement_date": "3/1/2022",
"period_covered": "2/1/2022 - 3/1/2022",
"account_summary": {
"balance_on_march_1": "$25,032.23",
"total_money_in": "$10,234.23",
"total_money_out": "$10,532.51"
},
"transactions": [
{
"date": "02/01",
"description": "PGD EasyPay Debit",
"withdrawal": "203.24",
"deposit": "",
"balance": "22,098.23"
},
{
"date": "02/02",
"description": "AB&B Online Payment*****",
"withdrawal": "71.23",
"deposit": "",
"balance": "22,027.00"
},
{
"date": "02/04",
"description": "Check No. 2345",
"withdrawal": "",
"deposit": "450.00",
"balance": "22,477.00"
},
{
"date": "02/05",
"description": "Payroll Direct Dep 23422342 Giants",
"withdrawal": "",
"deposit": "2,534.65",
"balance": "25,011.65"
},
{
"date": "02/06",
"description": "Signature POS Debit - TJP",
"withdrawal": "84.50",
"deposit": "",
"balance": "24,927.15"
},
{
"date": "02/07",
"description": "Check No. 234",
"withdrawal": "1,400.00",
"deposit": "",
"balance": "23,527.15"
},
{
"date": "02/08",
"description": "Check No. 342",
"withdrawal": "",
"deposit": "25.00",
"balance": "23,552.15"
},
{
"date": "02/09",
"description": "FPB AutoPay***** Credit Card",
"withdrawal": "456.02",
"deposit": "",
"balance": "23,096.13"
},
{
"date": "02/08",
"description": "Check No. 123",
"withdrawal": "",
"deposit": "25.00",
"balance": "23,552.15"
},
{
"date": "02/09",
"description": "FPB AutoPay***** Credit Card",
"withdrawal": "156.02",
"deposit": "",
"balance": "23,096.13"
},
{
"date": "02/08",
"description": "Cash Deposit",
"withdrawal": "",
"deposit": "25.00",
"balance": "23,552.15"
}
],
"valid": "true"
}# Extract structured data from financial table
./sparrow.sh '[{"instrument_name":"str", "valuation":0}]' \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--options mlx \
--options mlx-community/Qwen2.5-VL-72B-Instruct-4bit \
--file-path "data/bonds_table.png"π View JSON Output
{
"data": [
{
"instrument_name": "UNITS BLACKROCK FIX INC DUB FDS PLC ISHS EUR INV GRD CP BD IDX/INST/E",
"valuation": 19049
},
{
"instrument_name": "UNITS ISHARES III PLC CORE EUR GOVT BOND UCITS ETF/EUR",
"valuation": 83488
},
{
"instrument_name": "UNITS ISHARES III PLC EUR CORP BOND 1-5YR UCITS ETF/EUR",
"valuation": 213030
},
{
"instrument_name": "UNIT ISHARES VI PLC/JP MORGAN USD E BOND EUR HED UCITS ETF DIST/HDGD/",
"valuation": 32774
},
{
"instrument_name": "UNITS XTRACKERS II SICAV/EUR HY CORP BOND UCITS ETF/-1D-/DISTR.",
"valuation": 23643
}
],
"valid": "true"
}# Extract invoice with cropping for better accuracy
./sparrow.sh "*" \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--options mlx \
--options mlx-community/Qwen2.5-VL-72B-Instruct-4bit \
--crop-size 60 \
--file-path "data/invoice.pdf"π View Complete JSON Output
{
"invoice_number": "61356291",
"date_of_issue": "09/06/2012",
"seller": {
"name": "Chapman, Kim and Green",
"address": "64731 James Branch, Smithmouth, NC 26872",
"tax_id": "949-84-9105",
"iban": "GB50ACIE59715038217063"
},
"client": {
"name": "Rodriguez-Stevens",
"address": "2280 Angela Plain, Hortonshire, MS 93248",
"tax_id": "939-98-8477"
},
"items": [
{
"description": "Wine Glasses Goblets Pair Clear",
"quantity": 5,
"unit": "each",
"net_price": 12.0,
"net_worth": 60.0,
"vat_percentage": 10,
"gross_worth": 66.0
},
{
"description": "With Hooks Stemware Storage Multiple Uses Iron Wine Rack Hanging",
"quantity": 4,
"unit": "each",
"net_price": 28.08,
"net_worth": 112.32,
"vat_percentage": 10,
"gross_worth": 123.55
},
{
"description": "Replacement Corkscrew Parts Spiral Worm Wine Opener Bottle Houdini",
"quantity": 1,
"unit": "each",
"net_price": 7.5,
"net_worth": 7.5,
"vat_percentage": 10,
"gross_worth": 8.25
},
{
"description": "HOME ESSENTIALS GRADIENT STEMLESS WINE GLASSES SET OF 4 20 FL OZ (591 ml) NEW",
"quantity": 1,
"unit": "each",
"net_price": 12.99,
"net_worth": 12.99,
"vat_percentage": 10,
"gross_worth": 14.29
}
],
"summary": {
"total_net_worth": 192.81,
"total_vat": 19.28,
"total_gross_worth": 212.09
}
}# Process multi-page PDF with structured output per page
./sparrow.sh '{"table": [{"description": "str", "latest_amount": 0, "previous_amount": 0}]}' \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--options mlx \
--options mlx-community/Qwen2.5-VL-72B-Instruct-4bit \
--file-path "data/financial_report.pdf" \
--debug-dir "debug/"π View JSON Output
[
{
"table": [
{
"description": "Revenues",
"latest_amount": 12453,
"previous_amount": 11445
},
{
"description": "Operating expenses",
"latest_amount": 9157,
"previous_amount": 8822
}
],
"valid": "true",
"page": 1
},
{
"table": [
{
"description": "Revenues",
"latest_amount": 12453,
"previous_amount": 11445
},
{
"description": "Operating expenses",
"latest_amount": 9157,
"previous_amount": 8822
}
],
"valid": "true",
"page": 2
}
]# Instruction-based processing
./sparrow.sh "instruction: do arithmetic operation, payload: 2+2=" \
--pipeline "sparrow-instructor" \
--options mlx \
--options lmstudio-community/Mistral-Small-3.2-24B-Instruct-2506-8bit
# Instruction processing with document input
./sparrow.sh "check if business entity Chapman, Kim and Green is invoice issuing party"
--pipeline "sparrow-parse"
--instruction
--options mlx --options lmstudio-community/Mistral-Small-3.2-24B-Instruct-2506-8bit
--file-path "invoice_1.jpg"JSON Output:
The result of 2 + 2 is:
4
# Function calling example
./sparrow.sh assistant --pipeline "stocks" --query "Oracle"JSON Output:
{
"company": "Oracle Corporation",
"ticker": "ORCL"
}Additional Output:
The stock price of the Oracle Corporation is 186.3699951171875. USD
./sparrow.sh "*" --pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--debug --table --table-template "sparrow_generic_table" \
--options mlx --options mlx-community/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-8bit \
--options mlx --options mlx-community/dots.ocr-bf16 --file-path "data/well_report.jpg" ./sparrow.sh "[{\"instrument_name\":\"str\", \"valuation\":\"int\"}]" \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" --debug --options mlx \
--options mlx-community/gemma-4-31b-it-8bit \
--file-path "data/bonds_table.png" --hints-file-path "data/llm_hints_eu.json" ./sparrow.sh "<JSON_SCHEMA>" --pipeline "<PIPELINE>" [OPTIONS] --file-path "<FILE>"| Argument | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
query |
JSON/String | Schema or instruction | '[{"field":"str"}]' |
--pipeline |
String | Pipeline to use | sparrow-parse |
--file-path |
Path | Input document | data/invoice.pdf |
--hints-file-path |
Path | Query hints | data/hints.json |
--options |
String | Backend configuration | mlx,model-name |
--instruction |
Boolean | Sparrow query will be used as instruction | --instruction |
--validation |
Boolean | Sparrow query will be used for field validation | --validation |
--markdown |
Boolean | Markdown pre-processing | --markdown |
--ocr |
Boolean | Experimental functionality | --ocr |
--table |
Boolean | Experimental functionality | --table |
--table-template |
String | Experimental functionality | --name |
--crop-size |
Integer | Border cropping pixels | 60 |
--page-type |
String | Page classification | financial_table |
--debug |
Boolean | Enable debug mode | --debug |
--debug-dir |
Path | Debug output folder | ./debug/ |
# MLX Backend (Apple Silicon)
./sparrow.sh '[{"instrument_name":"str", "valuation":0}]' \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--options mlx \
--options mlx-community/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-8bit \
--file-path "data/bonds_table.png"
# Hugging Face Cloud GPU
--options huggingface --options your-space/model-name
# Additional flags
--options tables_only # Extract only tables
--options validation_off # Disable schema validation
--options apply_annotation # Include bounding boxes
--page-type financial_table # Classify page type# Instruction-based processing
./sparrow.sh "instruction: do arithmetic operation, payload: 2+2=" \
--pipeline "sparrow-instructor" \
--options mlx \
--options lmstudio-community/Mistral-Small-3.2-24B-Instruct-2506-8bit# Multi-page PDF with page classification
./sparrow.sh "*" \
--page-type invoice \
--page-type table \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--options mlx \
--options mlx-community/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-8bit \
--file-path "multi_page.pdf"
# Handle missing fields with null values
./sparrow.sh '[{"required_field":"str", "optional_field":"str or null"}]' \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--options mlx \
--options mlx-community/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-8bit \
--file-path "document.png"
# Table extraction with cropping
./sparrow.sh '*' \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--options mlx \
--options mlx-community/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-8bit \
--options tables_only \
--crop-size 100 \
--file-path "scan.pdf"
# Instruction execution
./sparrow.sh "check if business entity Chapman, Kim and Green is invoice issuing party"
--pipeline "sparrow-parse"
--instruction
--options mlx --options lmstudio-community/Mistral-Small-3.2-24B-Instruct-2506-8bit
--file-path "invoice_1.jpg"
# Field validation
./sparrow.sh "tax_id,shipment_code,total_gross_worth"
--pipeline "sparrow-parse"
--validation
--options mlx --options lmstudio-community/Mistral-Small-3.2-24B-Instruct-2506-8bit
--file-path "invoice_1.jpg"
{
"tax_id": true,
"shipment_code": false,
"total_gross_worth": true
}# Default port (8002)
python api.py
# Custom port
python api.py --port 8001
# Multiple instances
python api.py --port 8002 & # Sparrow Parse
python api.py --port 8003 & # Instructorcurl -X POST 'http://localhost:8002/api/v1/sparrow-llm/inference' \
-H 'Content-Type: multipart/form-data' \
-F 'query=[{"field_name":"str", "amount":0}]' \
-F 'pipeline=sparrow-parse' \
-F 'options=mlx,mlx-community/Qwen2.5-VL-72B-Instruct-4bit' \
-F 'file=@document.pdf'curl -X POST 'http://localhost:8002/api/v1/sparrow-llm/instruction-inference' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
-d 'query=instruction: analyze data, payload: {...}' \
-d 'pipeline=sparrow-instructor' \
-d 'options=mlx,mlx-community/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-8bit'Visit http://localhost:8002/api/v1/sparrow-llm/docs for interactive Swagger documentation.
Orchestrate complex document processing workflows with visual monitoring powered by Prefect.
- Multi-step Workflows: Chain classification, extraction, and validation
- Visual Monitoring: Real-time pipeline tracking
- Error Handling: Robust failure recovery
- Extensible: Custom agents for specific use cases
# Start agent server
cd sparrow-ml/agents
python api.py --port 8001
# Process medical prescriptions
curl -X POST 'http://localhost:8001/api/v1/sparrow-agents/execute/file' \
-F 'agent_name=medical_prescriptions' \
-F 'extraction_params={"sparrow_key":"123456"}' \
-F 'file=@prescription.pdf'Built-in analytics and monitoring dashboard at sparrow.katanaml.io. This is part of Sparrow UI, requires local Oracle Database 23ai Free.
- Usage Analytics: Track API calls, success rates, performance
- Geographic Distribution: See usage by country
- Model Performance: Compare different model performance
- Real-time Monitoring: Live processing statistics
| Feature | Sparrow Parse | Sparrow Instructor | Sparrow Agents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input | Documents + JSON schema | Text instructions | Complex workflows |
| Output | Structured JSON | Free-form text | Multi-step results |
| Use Cases | Data extraction, forms | Summarization, analysis | Enterprise workflows |
| Validation | Schema-based | Manual | Custom rules |
| Complexity | Simple | Medium | High |
| Best For | Invoices, tables, forms | Text processing | Multi-document flows |
Sparrow Parse: Use for structured data extraction from documents
Sparrow Instructor: Use for text analysis, summarization, Q&A
Sparrow Agents: Use for complex multi-step document processing workflows
Apple Silicon (MLX)
- β Best performance with unified memory
- β Models: Mistral Small 3.2 24B, Qwen3.6 27B Dense, Qwen3.6 35B MoE, Gemma 4 31B Dense, Gemma 4 26B MoE
β οΈ Requires macOS with Apple Silicon
NVIDIA GPU (vLLM)
- β Production inference via vLLM backend
- β Models: Mistral Small 3.2 24B full precision (primary), dots.ocr for large table pipelines
- β Recommended: 96GB VRAM for full precision models
β οΈ Requires CUDA setup
CPU Only
β οΈ Significantly slower- β Use smaller models (7B parameters max)
- β Consider Hugging Face cloud backend
For large or complex tables, use the dots.ocr β Sparrow Templates pipeline instead of Vision LLM direct extraction:
./sparrow.sh "*" --pipeline "sparrow-parse" \
--debug --table --table-template "sparrow_generic_table" \
--options mlx --options mlx-community/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-8bit \
--options mlx --options mlx-community/dots.ocr-bf16 --file-path "data/well_report.jpg"- dots.ocr: Handles large tables with high accuracy via HTML intermediate output
- Sparrow Templates: Maps extracted HTML table structure to JSON schema
- Recommended for financial statements, multi-column invoices, and structured reports
Use Sparrow hints to improve accuracy on complex documents β steer model attention to footers and fine print, disambiguate structurally similar fields (e.g., supplier vs. recipient VAT), normalize date and number formats, and resolve priority ordering for ambiguous fields:
./sparrow.sh "[{\"instrument_name\":\"str\", \"valuation\":\"int\"}]" \
--pipeline "sparrow-parse" --debug --options mlx \
--options mlx-community/gemma-4-31b-it-8bit \
--file-path "data/bonds_table.png" --hints-file-path "data/llm_hints_eu.json"| Use Case | Recommended Model | Backend | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invoices / Forms (EU) | Mistral Small 3.2 24B | vLLM / MLX | Primary production model |
| Invoices / Forms (US) | Gemma 4 31B Dense | MLX | Strong on English documents |
| Large Tables | dots.ocr | vLLM | Via Sparrow Templates pipeline |
| Quick Testing | Qwen3.6 27B Dense | MLX | Fast, good general accuracy |
| Low Memory | Qwen3.6 35B MoE / Gemma 4 26B MoE | MLX | Reduced memory footprint |
π« Installation Problems
Python Version Issues:
# Verify Python version
python --version # Should be 3.12.10+
# Fix with pyenv
pyenv install 3.12.10
pyenv global 3.12.10MLX Installation (Apple Silicon):
# If MLX fails to install
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install mlx-vlm --no-cache-dir# If pip install command throws AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'get'
# POTENTIAL SECURITY RISK - SSL verification is bypassed. Apply if you know what you are doing
pip install mlx-vlm --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host pypi.python.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.orgPoppler Missing:
# macOS
brew install poppler
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install poppler-utils
# Verify installation
pdftoppm -hπ§ Runtime Issues
Memory Errors:
- Use smaller or MoE models to reduce VRAM footprint
- Enable image cropping:
--crop-size 100 - Process single pages instead of entire PDFs
Model Loading Fails:
# Clear model cache
rm -rf ~/.cache/huggingface/
rm -rf ~/.mlx/
# Redownload models
python -c "from mlx_vlm import load; load('model-name')"API Connection Issues:
# Check if server is running
curl http://localhost:8002/health
# Check logs
python api.py --debugπ Document Processing Issues
Poor Extraction Quality:
- Add extraction hints to steer model attention to problem fields
- Try image cropping:
--crop-size 60 - Use
--table --table-templatewith dots.ocr for table-heavy documents - Ensure image resolution is adequate (300+ DPI)
- Use schema validation: avoid
--options validation_off
PDF Processing Fails:
# Test PDF manually
pdftoppm -png input.pdf output
# Check page count
python -c "
import pypdf
with open('file.pdf', 'rb') as f:
reader = pypdf.PdfReader(f)
print(f'Pages: {len(reader.pages)}')
"JSON Schema Errors:
- Validate JSON syntax: Use jsonlint.com
- Use proper field types:
"str",0,0.0,"str or null" - Test with simple schema first
- π Check Documentation: Review this README and component docs
- π Search Issues: GitHub Issues
- π¬ Create Issue: Provide logs, system info, minimal example
- π§ Commercial Support: abaranovskis@redsamuraiconsulting.com
Open Source: Licensed under GPL 3.0. Free for open source projects and organizations under $5M revenue.
Commercial: Dual licensing available for proprietary use, enterprise features, and dedicated support.
Contact: abaranovskis@redsamuraiconsulting.com for commercial licensing and consulting.
- Katana ML - AI/ML consulting and solutions
- Andrej Baranovskij - Lead developer
β Star us on GitHub if Sparrow is useful for your projects!
github.com/katanaml/sparrow