Keras is a high-level neural networks API, written in Python and capable of running on top of either [TensorFlow](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow) or [Theano](https://github.com/Theano/Theano). It was developed with a focus on enabling fast experimentation. *Being able to go from idea to result with the least possible delay is key to doing good research.*
- __User friendliness.__ Keras is an API designed for human beings, not machines. It puts user experience front and center. Keras follows best practices for reducing cognitive load: it offers consistent & simple APIs, it minimizes the number user actions required for common use cases, and it provides clear and actionable feedback upon user error.
- __Modularity.__ A model is understood as a sequence or a graph of standalone, fully-configurable modules that can be plugged together with as little restrictions as possible. In particular, neural layers, cost functions, optimizers, initialization schemes, activation functions, regularization schemes are all standalone modules that you can combine to create new models.
- __Easy extensibility.__ New modules are simple to add (as new classes and functions), and existing modules provide ample examples. To be able to easily create new modules allows for total expressiveness, making Keras suitable for advanced research.
- __Work with Python__. No separate models configuration files in a declarative format. Models are described in Python code, which is compact, easier to debug, and allows for ease of extensibility.
The core data structure of Keras is a __model__, a way to organize layers. The simplest type of model is the [`Sequential`](http://keras.io/getting-started/sequential-model-guide) model, a linear stack of layers. For more complex architectures, you should use the [Keras functional API](http://keras.io/getting-started/functional-api-guide), allowing to build arbitrary graphs of layers.
If you need to, you can further configure your optimizer. A core principle of Keras is to make things reasonably simple, while allowing the user to be fully in control when they need to (the ultimate control being the easy extensibility of the source code).
Building a question answering system, an image classification model, a Neural Turing Machine, or any other model is just as fast. The ideas behind deep learning are simple, so why should their implementation be painful?
In the [examples folder](https://github.com/fchollet/keras/tree/master/examples) of the repository, you will find more advanced models: question-answering with memory networks, text generation with stacked LSTMs, etc.
By default, Keras will use TensorFlow as its tensor manipulation library. [Follow these instructions](http://keras.io/backend/) to configure the Keras backend.
- On the [Keras Slack channel](https://kerasteam.slack.com). Use [this link](https://keras-slack-autojoin.herokuapp.com/) to request an invitation to the channel.
You can also post **bug reports and feature requests** (only) in [Github issues](https://github.com/fchollet/keras/issues). Make sure to read [our guidelines](https://github.com/fchollet/keras/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) first.
Keras (κέρας) means _horn_ in Greek. It is a reference to a literary image from ancient Greek and Latin literature, first found in the _Odyssey_, where dream spirits (_Oneiroi_, singular _Oneiros_) are divided between those who deceive men with false visions, who arrive to Earth through a gate of ivory, and those who announce a future that will come to pass, who arrive through a gate of horn. It's a play on the words κέρας (horn) / κραίνω (fulfill), and ἐλέφας (ivory) / ἐλεφαίρομαι (deceive).
>_"Oneiroi are beyond our unravelling --who can be sure what tale they tell? Not all that men look for comes to pass. Two gates there are that give passage to fleeting Oneiroi; one is made of horn, one of ivory. The Oneiroi that pass through sawn ivory are deceitful, bearing a message that will not be fulfilled; those that come out through polished horn have truth behind them, to be accomplished for men who see them."_ Homer, Odyssey 19. 562 ff (Shewring translation).