Output

The Output object provides output specifications for structured data generation with generateText and streamText. It allows you to specify the expected shape of the generated data and handles validation automatically.

import { generateText, Output } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const { output } = await generateText({
  model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5',
  output: Output.object({
    schema: z.object({
      name: z.string(),
      age: z.number(),
    }),
  }),
  prompt: 'Generate a user profile.',
});

Import

import { Output } from "ai"

Output Types

Output.text()

Output specification for plain text generation. This is the default behavior when no output is specified.

import { generateText, Output } from 'ai';

const { output } = await generateText({
  model: yourModel,
  output: Output.text(),
  prompt: 'Tell me a joke.',
});
// output is a string

Parameters

No parameters required.

Returns

An Output<string, string> specification that generates plain text without schema validation.

Output.object()

Output specification for typed object generation using schemas. The output is validated against the provided schema to ensure type safety.

import { generateText, Output } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const { output } = await generateText({
  model: yourModel,
  output: Output.object({
    schema: z.object({
      name: z.string(),
      age: z.number().nullable(),
      labels: z.array(z.string()),
    }),
  }),
  prompt: 'Generate information for a test user.',
});
// output matches the schema type

Parameters

• schema (FlexibleSchema<OBJECT>): The schema that defines the structure of the object to generate. Supports Zod schemas, Standard JSON schemas, and custom JSON schemas.
• name? (string): Optional name of the output that should be generated. Used by some providers for additional LLM guidance, e.g. via tool or schema name.
• description? (string): Optional description of the output that should be generated. Used by some providers for additional LLM guidance, e.g. via tool or schema description.

Returns

An Output<OBJECT, DeepPartial<OBJECT>> specification where:

• Complete output is fully validated against the schema
• Partial output (during streaming) is a deep partial version of the schema type

Output.array()

Output specification for generating arrays of typed elements. Each element is validated against the provided element schema.

import { generateText, Output } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const { output } = await generateText({
  model: yourModel,
  output: Output.array({
    element: z.object({
      location: z.string(),
      temperature: z.number(),
      condition: z.string(),
    }),
    minItems: 2,
    maxItems: 2,
  }),
  prompt: 'List the weather for San Francisco and Paris.',
});
// output is an array of weather objects

Parameters

• element (FlexibleSchema<ELEMENT>): The schema that defines the structure of each array element. Supports Zod schemas, Valibot schemas, or JSON schemas.
• minItems? (number): The minimum number of elements to generate. Must be a non-negative integer.
• maxItems? (number): The maximum number of elements to generate. Must be a non-negative integer and greater than or equal to minItems.
• name? (string): Optional name of the output that should be generated. Used by some providers for additional LLM guidance, e.g. via tool or schema name.
• description? (string): Optional description of the output that should be generated. Used by some providers for additional LLM guidance, e.g. via tool or schema description.

Returns

An Output<Array<ELEMENT>, Array<ELEMENT>> specification where:

• Complete output is an array with all elements validated
• Complete output is validated against minItems and maxItems
• Partial output contains only fully validated elements (incomplete elements are excluded)

Set minItems and maxItems to the same value to require an exact number of elements. The bounds are included in the provider-facing schema when the provider supports them. The AI SDK also validates the completed output, so providers that ignore these schema keywords cannot return an out-of-bounds result.

Streaming with elementStream

When using streamText with Output.array(), you can iterate over elements as they are generated using elementStream:

import { streamText, Output } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const { elementStream } = streamText({
  model: yourModel,
  output: Output.array({
    element: z.object({
      name: z.string(),
      class: z.string(),
      description: z.string(),
    }),
  }),
  prompt: 'Generate 3 hero descriptions for a fantasy role playing game.',
});

for await (const hero of elementStream) {
  console.log(hero); // Each hero is complete and validated
}

Output.choice()

Output specification for selecting from a predefined set of string options. Useful for classification tasks or fixed-enum answers.

import { generateText, Output } from 'ai';

const { output } = await generateText({
  model: yourModel,
  output: Output.choice({
    options: ['sunny', 'rainy', 'snowy'] as const,
  }),
  prompt: 'Is the weather sunny, rainy, or snowy today?',
});
// output is 'sunny' | 'rainy' | 'snowy'

Parameters

• options (Array<CHOICE>): An array of string options that the model can choose from. The output will be exactly one of these values.
• name? (string): Optional name of the output that should be generated. Used by some providers for additional LLM guidance, e.g. via tool or schema name.
• description? (string): Optional description of the output that should be generated. Used by some providers for additional LLM guidance, e.g. via tool or schema description.

Returns

An Output<CHOICE, CHOICE> specification where:

• Complete output is validated to be exactly one of the provided options

Output.json()

Output specification for unstructured JSON generation. Use this when you want to generate arbitrary JSON without enforcing a specific schema.

import { generateText, Output } from 'ai';

const { output } = await generateText({
  model: yourModel,
  output: Output.json(),
  prompt:
    'For each city, return the current temperature and weather condition as a JSON object.',
});
// output is any valid JSON value

Parameters

• name? (string): Optional name of the output that should be generated. Used by some providers for additional LLM guidance, e.g. via tool or schema name.
• description? (string): Optional description of the output that should be generated. Used by some providers for additional LLM guidance, e.g. via tool or schema description.

Returns

An Output<JSONValue, JSONValue> specification that:

• Validates that the output is valid JSON
• Does not enforce any specific structure

Error Handling

When generateText with structured output cannot generate a valid object, it throws a NoObjectGeneratedError.

import { generateText, Output, NoObjectGeneratedError } from 'ai';

try {
  await generateText({
    model: yourModel,
    output: Output.object({ schema }),
    prompt: 'Generate a user profile.',
  });
} catch (error) {
  if (NoObjectGeneratedError.isInstance(error)) {
    console.log('NoObjectGeneratedError');
    console.log('Cause:', error.cause);
    console.log('Text:', error.text);
    console.log('Response:', error.response);
    console.log('Usage:', error.usage);
  }
}

See also

• Generating Structured Data
• generateText()
• streamText()
• zod-schema
• json-schema