The way you get structured output with Claude prior to this is via tool use.
IMO this was the more elegant design if you think about it: tool calling is really just structured output and structured output is tool calling. The "do not provide multiple ways of doing the same thing" philosophy.
Comments
Agree, it feels so fundamental. Any idea why? Gemini has also had it for a long time
The way you get structured output with Claude prior to this is via tool use.
IMO this was the more elegant design if you think about it: tool calling is really just structured output and structured output is tool calling. The "do not provide multiple ways of doing the same thing" philosophy.