Structured output
Structured output is the practice of forcing a language model to return data in a predictable schema, usually JSON.
Structured output constrains what a model is allowed to produce. Instead of free text, the model returns a JSON object, a typed record, or some other schema-validated payload. The caller parses it deterministically. Every major model and framework now supports structured output natively.
The point of structured output is reliability. A human can read an unstructured answer and fill in the gaps. Another system cannot. If the next step in the pipeline is code, the output has to fit a contract. Structured output turns a probabilistic text generator into a component that downstream systems can trust.
Structured output also changes the failure mode. Instead of a slightly wrong sentence, you get a clearly broken schema. Clearly broken is cheaper to handle. Subtly wrong is what takes production systems down.
The Amdahl view
Every agent interaction consumed by another system should be structured. Most production agent failures are not reasoning failures, they are parsing failures. Teams that take structured output seriously have agents that work. Teams that hope a regex will catch the edge cases do not. Amdahl's MCP returns structured payloads for every action, because the agents calling it are not allowed to guess.
Frequently asked
Related terms
- AI InfrastructureTool callingTool calling is the capability that lets a language model invoke a function, API, or MCP server to fetch data or take action.
- AI InfrastructureModel Context Protocol (MCP)Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol for connecting language models to external tools, data sources, and capabilities through a standard wire format.
- AI InfrastructureAgent loopAn agent loop is the iterative cycle of observe, plan, act, and observe again that runs until the agent completes its task.
- AI InfrastructureOntologyAn ontology is a structured map of the concepts, entities, and relationships in a domain, used to give a language model a consistent vocabulary and schema for reasoning about source data.
- The IntersectionAgent-ready dataAgent-ready data is customer data structured, cited, and queryable by an AI agent without human translation.
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