# rstructor: Structured LLM Outputs for Rust
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</p>
Extract structured, validated data from LLMs using native Rust types. Define your schema as structs/enums, and rstructor handles JSON Schema generation, API communication, parsing, and validation.
The Rust equivalent of [Instructor](https://github.com/jxnl/instructor) for Python.
## Features
- **Type-safe schemas** — Define models as Rust structs/enums with derive macros
- **Multi-provider** — OpenAI, Anthropic, Grok (xAI), and Gemini with unified API
- **Auto-validation** — Type checking plus custom business rules with automatic retry
- **Complex types** — Nested objects, arrays, optionals, enums with associated data
- **Extended thinking** — Native support for reasoning models (GPT-5.2, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3)
## Installation
```toml
[dependencies]
rstructor = "0.2"
serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
tokio = { version = "1.0", features = ["rt-multi-thread", "macros"] }
```
## Quick Start
```rust
use rstructor::{Instructor, LLMClient, OpenAIClient};
use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct Movie {
#[llm(description = "Title of the movie")]
title: String,
#[llm(description = "Director of the movie")]
director: String,
#[llm(description = "Year released", example = 2010)]
year: u16,
}
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
let client = OpenAIClient::from_env()?
.temperature(0.0);
let movie: Movie = client.materialize("Tell me about Inception").await?;
println!("{}: {} ({})", movie.title, movie.director, movie.year);
Ok(())
}
```
## Providers
```rust
use rstructor::{OpenAIClient, AnthropicClient, GrokClient, GeminiClient, LLMClient};
// OpenAI (reads OPENAI_API_KEY)
let client = OpenAIClient::from_env()?.model("gpt-5.2");
// Anthropic (reads ANTHROPIC_API_KEY)
let client = AnthropicClient::from_env()?.model("claude-opus-4-6");
// Grok/xAI (reads XAI_API_KEY)
let client = GrokClient::from_env()?.model("grok-4-1-fast-non-reasoning");
// Gemini (reads GEMINI_API_KEY)
let client = GeminiClient::from_env()?.model("gemini-3-flash-preview");
// Custom endpoint (local LLMs, proxies)
let client = OpenAIClient::new("key")?
.base_url("http://localhost:1234/v1")
.model("llama-3.1-70b");
```
## Validation
Add custom validation with automatic retry on failure:
```rust
use rstructor::{Instructor, RStructorError, Result};
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize)]
#[llm(validate = "validate_movie")]
struct Movie {
title: String,
year: u16,
rating: f32,
}
fn validate_movie(movie: &Movie) -> Result<()> {
if movie.year < 1888 || movie.year > 2030 {
return Err(RStructorError::ValidationError(
format!("Invalid year: {}", movie.year)
));
}
if movie.rating < 0.0 || movie.rating > 10.0 {
return Err(RStructorError::ValidationError(
format!("Rating must be 0-10, got {}", movie.rating)
));
}
Ok(())
}
// Retries are enabled by default (3 attempts with error feedback)
// To increase retries:
let client = OpenAIClient::from_env()?.max_retries(5);
// To disable retries:
let client = OpenAIClient::from_env()?.no_retries();
```
## Complex Types
### Nested Structures
```rust
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct Ingredient {
name: String,
amount: f32,
unit: String,
}
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct Recipe {
name: String,
ingredients: Vec<Ingredient>,
prep_time_minutes: u16,
}
```
### Enums with Data
```rust
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize)]
enum PaymentMethod {
#[llm(description = "Credit card payment")]
Card { number: String, expiry: String },
#[llm(description = "PayPal account")]
PayPal(String),
#[llm(description = "Cash on delivery")]
CashOnDelivery,
}
```
### Serde Rename Support
rstructor respects `#[serde(rename)]` and `#[serde(rename_all)]` attributes:
```rust
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize)]
#[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
struct UserProfile {
first_name: String, // becomes "firstName" in schema
last_name: String, // becomes "lastName" in schema
email_address: String, // becomes "emailAddress" in schema
}
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct CommitMessage {
#[serde(rename = "type")] // use "type" as JSON key
commit_type: String,
description: String,
}
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize)]
#[serde(rename_all = "lowercase")]
enum CommitType {
Fix, // becomes "fix"
Feat, // becomes "feat"
Refactor, // becomes "refactor"
}
```
Supported case conversions: `lowercase`, `UPPERCASE`, `camelCase`, `PascalCase`, `snake_case`, `SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE`, `kebab-case`, `SCREAMING-KEBAB-CASE`.
### Custom Types (Dates, UUIDs)
```rust
use chrono::{DateTime, Utc};
use rstructor::schema::CustomTypeSchema;
impl CustomTypeSchema for DateTime<Utc> {
fn schema_type() -> &'static str { "string" }
fn schema_format() -> Option<&'static str> { Some("date-time") }
}
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct Event {
name: String,
start_time: DateTime<Utc>,
}
```
## Multimodal (Image Input)
Analyze images with structured extraction using Gemini's inline data support:
```rust
use rstructor::{Instructor, LLMClient, GeminiClient, MediaFile};
#[derive(Instructor, Serialize, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct ImageAnalysis {
subject: String,
colors: Vec<String>,
is_logo: bool,
description: String,
}
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
// Download or load image bytes
let image_bytes = reqwest::get("https://example.com/image.png")
.await?.bytes().await?;
// Create inline media from bytes (base64-encoded automatically)
let media = MediaFile::from_bytes(&image_bytes, "image/png");
let client = GeminiClient::from_env()?;
let analysis: ImageAnalysis = client
.materialize_with_media("Describe this image", &[media])
.await?;
println!("{:?}", analysis);
Ok(())
}
```
`MediaFile::new(uri, mime_type)` is also available for Gemini Files API / GCS URIs.
## Extended Thinking
Configure reasoning depth for supported models:
```rust
use rstructor::ThinkingLevel;
// GPT-5.2, Claude 4.5 (Sonnet/Opus), Gemini 3
let client = OpenAIClient::from_env()?
.model("gpt-5.2")
.thinking_level(ThinkingLevel::High);
// Levels: Off, Minimal, Low, Medium, High
```
## Token Usage
```rust
let result = client.materialize_with_metadata::<Movie>("...").await?;
println!("Movie: {}", result.data.title);
if let Some(usage) = result.usage {
println!("Tokens: {} in, {} out", usage.input_tokens, usage.output_tokens);
}
```
## Error Handling
```rust
use rstructor::{ApiErrorKind, RStructorError};
match client.materialize::<Movie>("...").await {
Ok(movie) => println!("{:?}", movie),
Err(e) if e.is_retryable() => {
println!("Transient error: {}", e);
if let Some(delay) = e.retry_delay() {
tokio::time::sleep(delay).await;
}
}
Err(e) => match e.api_error_kind() {
Some(ApiErrorKind::RateLimited { retry_after }) => { /* ... */ }
Some(ApiErrorKind::AuthenticationFailed) => { /* ... */ }
_ => eprintln!("Error: {}", e),
}
}
```
## Feature Flags
```toml
[dependencies]
rstructor = { version = "0.2", features = ["openai", "anthropic", "grok", "gemini"] }
```
- `openai`, `anthropic`, `grok`, `gemini` — Provider backends
- `derive` — Derive macro (default)
- `logging` — Tracing integration
## Examples
See `examples/` for complete working examples:
```bash
export OPENAI_API_KEY=your_key
cargo run --example structured_movie_info
cargo run --example nested_objects_example
cargo run --example enum_with_data_example
cargo run --example serde_rename_example
cargo run --example gemini_multimodal_example
```
## For Python Developers
If you're coming from Python and searching for:
- **"pydantic rust"** or **"rust pydantic"** — rstructor provides similar schema validation and type safety
- **"instructor rust"** or **"rust instructor"** — same structured LLM output extraction pattern
- **"structured output rust"** or **"llm structured output"** — exactly what rstructor does
- **"type-safe llm rust"** — ensures type safety from LLM responses to Rust structs
## License
MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE)