Once installed, running the IAF is straightforward. As already stated, the IAF is not a development library but a generic adapter framework whose functionality can be tailored according to a user's requirements through loading of the appropriate plug-ins.

In order to create an adapter with the IAF, one must supply a configuration file. This file – described in The IAF configuration file – specifies which plug-ins to load and what parameters to configure them with, defines the translation and transformation rules of the Semantic Mapper, and configures communication with Apama.

The adapter can then be started as follows: