---
title: "Guides"
url: "/docs/guides/"
canonical_url: "https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/"
type: "docs"
last_updated: "2026-10-06"
summary: "Guides are focused references organized by the job you are trying to do with LiteLLM: make requests, use tools, handle media, manage context, or operate the gateway safely."
related:
  - "/docs/learn/autorouter_cli"
  - "/docs/guides/core_request_response_patterns"
---
# Guides

> Index of all LiteLLM docs: https://docs.litellm.ai/llms.txt

**Guides** are focused references organized by the job you are trying to do with LiteLLM: make requests, use tools, handle media, manage context, or operate the gateway safely.

> New to LiteLLM or not sure whether you need the SDK or Gateway path first? Start at [Learn →](/docs/learn)

---

## Build With LiteLLM

- [Core Requests](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/core_request_response_patterns): Streaming, batching, structured outputs, and reasoning behavior.
- [Tool Calling](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/tools_integrations): Function calling, web tools, interception patterns, computer use, code interpreter, and tool-call hygiene.
- [Multimodal I/O](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/multimodal_io): Vision, audio, PDFs, image generation, and video generation.
- [Retrieval & Knowledge](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/retrieval_knowledge): Vector stores, file search, citations, and knowledge-base routing.
- [Prompts & Context](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/prompts_context): Prompt caching, trimming, formatting, assistant prefill, and predicted outputs.

---

## Operate & Extend

- [Compatibility & Extensibility](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/compatibility_extensibility): Provider-specific params, model aliases, fine-tuned models, and adapters.
- [Reliability, Testing & Spend](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/reliability_testing_spend): Retries, fallbacks, mock responses, and budget controls.
- [Security & Network](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/security_network): SSL, custom CA bundles, HTTP proxy settings, and per-service verification.

## Related pages

- [lite autoroute](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/learn/autorouter_cli.md)
- [Core Requests](https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/guides/core_request_response_patterns.md)