Data/ML/AIBackendEmergingAround since 2023
Structured Output
Also written as JSON Mode, Constrained Decoding, Schema Enforcement
Forcing a language model to reply in a fixed machine-readable shape, such as JSON matching a schema, so downstream code can rely on it.
Think of it like
Handing someone a form to fill in rather than asking them to write a letter you then have to interpret.
Junior or senior?
Junior sounds like
Asks the model nicely for JSON in the prompt.
Senior sounds like
Uses schema enforcement and still handles the failure case, because free-form parsing breaks in production.
Ask them
“What did your code do when the model returned something that didn't match the expected shape?”