​
Basic validation

Instructor validates results of LLM response against validation rules specified in your data model. 
<?php
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person {
    public string $name;
    #[Assert\PositiveOrZero]
    public int $age;
}

$text = "His name is Jason, he is -28 years old.";

$person = (new StructuredOutput)->with(
    messages: $text,
    responseModel: Person::class,
)->get();

// if the resulting object does not validate, Instructor throws an exception
NOTE: For further details on available validation rules, check Symfony Validation constraints.

​
Max Retries

In case maxRetries parameter is provided and LLM response does not meet validation criteria, Instructor will make subsequent inference attempts until results meet the requirements or maxRetries is reached. Instructor uses validation errors to inform LLM on the problems identified in the response, so that LLM can try self-correcting in the next attempt. 
<?php
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Person {
    #[Assert\Length(min: 3)]
    public string $name;
    #[Assert\PositiveOrZero]
    public int $age;
}

$text = "His name is JX, aka Jason, he is -28 years old.";

$person = (new StructuredOutput)->with(
    messages: $text,
    responseModel: Person::class,
    maxRetries: 3,
)->get();

// if all LLM's attempts to self-correct the results fail, Instructor throws an exception

​
Custom Validation

You can easily add custom validation code to your response model by using ValidationTrait and defining validation logic in validate() method. 
<?php
use Cognesy\Instructor\Validation\Traits\ValidationMixin;

class UserDetails
{
    use ValidationMixin;

    public string $name;
    public int $age;

    public function validate() : array {
        if ($this->name === strtoupper($this->name)) {
            return [];
        }
        return [[
            'message' => "Name must be in uppercase.",
            'path' => 'name',
            'value' => $this->name
        ]];
    }
}

$user = (new StructuredOutput)->with(
    messages: [['role' => 'user', 'content' => 'jason is 25 years old']],
    responseModel: UserDetails::class,
    maxRetries: 2
)->get();

assert($user->name === "JASON");
Note that method validate() has to return:
  • an empty array if the object is valid,
  • or an array of validation violations.
This information will be used by LLM to make subsequent attempts to correct the response. 
$violations = [
    [
        'message' => "Error message with violation details.",
        'path' => 'path.to.property',
        'value' => '' // invalid value
    ],
    // ...other violations
];

​
Custom Validation via Symfony #[Assert/Callback]

Instructor uses Symfony validation component to validate extracted data. You can use #[Assert/Callback] annotation to build fully customized validation logic. 
<?php
use Cognesy\Instructor\StructuredOutput;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Context\ExecutionContextInterface;

class UserDetails
{
    public string $name;
    public int $age;
    
    #[Assert\Callback]
    public function validateName(ExecutionContextInterface $context, mixed $payload) {
        if ($this->name !== strtoupper($this->name)) {
            $context->buildViolation("Name must be in uppercase.")
                ->atPath('name')
                ->setInvalidValue($this->name)
                ->addViolation();
        }
    }
}
    
$user = (new StructuredOutput)
    ->with(
        messages: [['role' => 'user', 'content' => 'jason is 25 years old']],
        responseModel: UserDetails::class,
        maxRetries: 2
    )
    ->get();

assert($user->name === "JASON");
NOTE: See Symfony docs for more details on how to use Callback constraint.