R
Rishikesh Baidya
Author
September 12, 202410 min read
Development
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Building with LLMs requires different thinking than traditional software development. At Softechinfra, our AI & Automation team has shipped LLM-powered features in production for projects like TalkDrill and ExamReady.
80%
Accuracy with RAG
60%
Cost Reduction
2s
Avg Response Time
99.5%
Uptime
LLM Application Patterns
1. RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation)
Query
Retrieve
Context
Generate
Response
RAG combines LLMs with your proprietary data for domain-specific, accurate answers with source attribution.
2. Agents and Tool Use
Planning
Break complex goals into executable steps
Tools
API calls, database queries, web search
Execution
Run tools and handle responses
Memory
Track progress and context
✅ Real Result: For TalkDrill, we built AI conversation agents that provide personalized English tutoring with 85% learner satisfaction and measurable fluency improvements.
3. When to Fine-Tune vs. RAG
| Use Case | RAG | Fine-Tuning |
|---|---|---|
| Domain knowledge | Best choice | Not recommended |
| Custom format/style | Limited | Best choice |
| Real-time data | Best choice | Not possible |
| Cost optimization | Higher per-call | Lower per-call |
Development Workflow
"The key to LLM development is treating prompts as code—version them, test them, and iterate based on evaluation data. Start simple, measure everything, and add complexity only when needed."
Prompt Engineering Best Practices
- Clear, specific instructions with examples (few-shot)
- Output format specification (JSON, markdown)
- Edge case handling and validation rules
- Iterative refinement based on failures
Production Considerations
⚠️ Critical Pitfalls: Hallucination, prompt injection, cost overruns, and latency issues can derail LLM projects. Build monitoring and guardrails from day one.
Technical Stack
- Vector DBs: Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector
- Embeddings: OpenAI, Cohere, sentence-transformers
- LLM Providers: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Llama
- Frameworks: LangChain, LlamaIndex
Best Practices Checklist
- Version your prompts—treat them as code
- Build evaluation sets early—measure quality
- Handle failures gracefully—things will go wrong
- Monitor costs, latency, and quality continuously
- Stream responses for better perceived performance
For AI agent patterns, see our AI Agents Guide.
Building AI-Powered Applications?
Our AI & Automation team helps teams design and implement LLM solutions that work in production.
Discuss Your AI Project →Explore related topics in our API Design Guide and learn how our CEO approaches AI strategy.
Tags:
LLMAIDevelopmentMachine LearningRAG