---
title: "MessagesOutputConfig"
---

Configuration for controlling output behavior. Supports the effort parameter and structured output format.


## Fields

| Field                                                                                                                                                                                           | Type                                                                                                                                                                                            | Required                                                                                                                                                                                        | Description                                                                                                                                                                                     | Example                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `effort`                                                                                                                                                                                        | [OptionalNullable[components.MessagesOutputConfigEffort]](../components/messagesoutputconfigeffort.mdx)                                                                                          | :heavy_minus_sign:                                                                                                                                                                              | How much effort the model should put into its response. Higher effort levels may result in more thorough analysis but take longer. Valid values are `low`, `medium`, `high`, `xhigh`, or `max`. | medium                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| `format_`                                                                                                                                                                                       | [OptionalNullable[components.MessagesOutputConfigFormat]](../components/messagesoutputconfigformat.mdx)                                                                                          | :heavy_minus_sign:                                                                                                                                                                              | A schema to specify Claude's output format in responses. See [structured outputs](https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/structured-outputs).                                    |                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| `task_budget`                                                                                                                                                                                   | [OptionalNullable[components.TaskBudget]](../components/taskbudget.mdx)                                                                                                                          | :heavy_minus_sign:                                                                                                                                                                              | Task budget for an agentic turn. The model sees a countdown of remaining tokens and uses it to prioritize work and wind down gracefully. Advisory — does not enforce a hard cap.                | \{<br/>"total": 400000,<br/>"type": "tokens"<br/>}                                                                                                                                               |