Learn / Your First Program

Your First Program

A minimal Spark program selects a model alias, asks a question, and prints the result — like “Hello World” for an AI-first language.

hello.spark

Create a file named hello.spark:

use code

ask "Explain gravity in one sentence" -> text

print text

use code is sugar for model code — it sets the default model alias for following ask calls. Aliases like fast and best are configured in your runtime, not hardcoded vendor strings.

Run it

./spark --dry-run hello.spark

Dry-run returns a fixture reply so you can iterate without an API key. For a real response:

export OPENAI_API_KEY=your_key
./spark --live hello.spark

Optional sugar

Spark supports shorthand for quick scripts:

use fast
? "Explain gravity in one sentence" -> text
print text

? is sugar for ask. Try it on the Playground page or see language reference.

Next lesson

AI in 5 Minutes — classify, extract, and pipeline in one short lesson.