Structured Output
Constraining a model to emit valid JSON or a schema-conforming object.
Overview
Structured output constrains generation so the result parses against a schema, usually by restricting which tokens are allowed at each position. It solves the problem that asking a model for JSON produces JSON most of the time, and a pipeline cannot be built on most of the time. It exists because the constraint is enforced during generation rather than validated afterwards, so retries and repair logic are not needed.
Technology Graph
How Structured Output connects to the rest of the stack.
Applied to
- AI Agent application AI Agents Structured Output used for AI Agent High ✓ source
- Constrained Decoding technique Techniques Constrained Decoding used for Structured Output High ✓ source
- Function Calling technique Prompting Structured Output used for Function Calling High ✓ source