Architecture

In a nutshell, Docling's architecture is outlined in the diagram above.

For each document format, the document converter knows which format-specific backend to employ for parsing the document and which pipeline to use for orchestrating the execution, along with any relevant options.

Tip

While the document converter holds a default mapping, this configuration is parametrizable, so e.g. for the PDF format, different backends and different pipeline options can be used — see Usage.

The conversion result contains the Docling document, Docling's fundamental document representation.

Some typical scenarios for using a Docling document include directly calling its export methods, such as for markdown, dictionary etc., or having it chunked by a chunker.

For more details on Docling's architecture, check out the Docling Technical Report.

Note

The components illustrated with dashed outline indicate base classes that can be subclassed for specialized implementations.