Structured output is when an AI model returns its answer in a fixed, predictable format, like JSON, instead of free-form text. In app building, it's how the AI agent hands data to your app in a shape the app can read and use directly, which matters because an app can act on labelled values automatically but has to guess its way through a paragraph.
What is Structured Output?
How structured output works
You tell the model not just what to answer but what shape the answer must take: which fields to include, and what type each one is. The model then returns its response inside that structure, so instead of a sentence it hands back labelled values your app can pull apart cleanly.
Structured output examples
Say you build a tool that reads a customer email and logs the request. Instead of returning a summary paragraph, the AI returns structured output: a category, a priority level, and a short summary, each in its own field. Your app drops those straight into the right columns of your database, so the email becomes a sortable record with no manual copying.
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