What are structured outputs, i.e. answers conforming to a schema?
Review note: The answer refers to the original author's CV or target job offer — adapt it to your own experience.
Answer out loud or in your head first, then compare.
Answer
It's the ability to ask a model API for a result with a specified structure and to constrain how it's generated. For example, instead of a free-form description I want an object with title, price and currency fields. The details of the supported schema depend on the service.
It helps connect the result to the app, because the program knows which fields to expect. But it doesn't prove the price is real. The model can return correctly shaped data about a product that doesn't exist. So you have to check the data's meaning separately and handle missing information, refusals and interrupted calls. The schema shouldn't force guessing a missing value.
Why it matters: Important in the extraction and classification mentioned in the CV.
Possible follow-ups: What does a correct data type mean, and what does it mean for data to be true?
How did it go? Be honest — “Not yet” puts the question on your review list.
Further reading
- Claude Platform: Structured outputs(opens in a new tab)Docs; accessed 22.10.2026. The schema contract, limits and validation; parameters depend on the API/SDK.