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Outlines Structured Generation

Makes local or API language models output valid JSON, choices, regex patterns or Pydantic objects.

Source Download skill
Repository
Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs
Stars
14,195
Licence
MIT
Files
4 files

What it does

This skill teaches an AI agent how to use the Outlines Python library, which forces a language model to produce output that follows a set structure, such as valid JSON matching a schema, one of several fixed choices, or text matching a pattern. Instead of hoping the model formats its answer correctly, the library filters which words the model is allowed to produce at each step. The skill gives the agent working code examples for setting up models (Hugging Face Transformers, llama.cpp, vLLM, OpenAI) and for generating typed Python objects.

Great for

  • Developers building pipelines that need reliable structured data from a language model
  • Data engineers extracting fields from text into a fixed schema
  • Teams running local open-weight models who need guaranteed output formats

Skip it if

  • Simple chat or writing tasks where free-form text is fine, since the added constraints are unnecessary
  • Use with hosted API models expecting full feature support, because the skill notes OpenAI support is limited
  • Production use without testing, since the examples are short and the library's behaviour depends on the model and backend chosen

Try asking

  • “Use Outlines to extract name, age and email from this paragraph into a Pydantic model”
  • “Write a Python script that classifies support tickets as positive, negative or neutral using a local Phi-3 model”
  • “Generate a function that makes a local Llama model return JSON matching my schema”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Outlines Structured GenerationInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 4 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.

    outlines.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip outlines.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip outlines.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Pin the library version, since the skill's API examples (outlines.models.transformers, outlines.generate.json) may change between releases
  • Review any generated code before running it, especially code that downloads models or uses API keys
  • Keep API keys in environment variables rather than hard-coding them as the example does

What's inside

  • references/backends.md
  • references/examples.md
  • references/json_generation.md
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.