Understanding the kernel
The kernel is the central component of Semantic Kernel. At its simplest, the kernel is a Dependency Injection container that manages all of the services and plugins necessary to run your AI application. If you provide all of your services and plugins to the kernel, they will then be seamlessly used by the AI as needed.
Build a kernel with services and plugins
Before building a kernel, you should first understand the two types of components that exist:
| Components | Description |
|---|---|
| Services | These consist of both AI services (e.g., chat completion) and other services (e.g., logging and HTTP clients) that are necessary to run your application. |
| Plugins | These are the components that are used by your AI services and prompt templates to perform work. AI services, for example, can use plugins to retrieve data from a database or call an external API to perform actions. |