Question

A Generative AI Engineer is building an invoice-processing application that calls a Databricks Foundation Model API endpoint (a chat model that supports structured outputs). The application must receive strictly valid JSON matching a fixed schema (vendor, invoice_number, total_amount) so it can be inserted directly into a Delta table without post-parsing failures. The team has already tried adding 'respond only in JSON' to the prompt but occasionally gets responses wrapped in markdown code fences or with explanatory prose. Which approach most reliably guarantees schema-conformant output from the endpoint?

Accepted Answer

Pass a response_format parameter specifying a JSON schema in the API request so the model is constrained to emit output matching that schema.

Answer

Increase the temperature to 0 and repeat the same prompt instruction more forcefully with capital letters.

Answer

Add a regular-expression post-processor that strips markdown fences and hopes the remaining text is valid JSON before insertion.

Answer

Switch the endpoint to provisioned throughput mode, which enforces structured JSON responses automatically.