Questions (primitives)

A question describes the judgment you want on a state. typed-lm has three question types — primitives — each returning a different typed answer. All three can be combined in a single request.

How do I choose between them?

• Use Noul for boolean decisions: is this eligible?, does this contain a payment error?, is this safe?
• Use Choice for routing and classification into a closed set: which department?, which language?, which category?
• Use Score for ordered intensity: how urgent?, how relevant?, how severe?

Can I ask several at once?

Yes. questions is a map, and every question is evaluated independently against the same state in one batched forward pass.

{
  "questions": {
    "refund_eligible": {
      "type": "noul",
      "instructions": "The customer is eligible for a full refund under the store policy."
    },
    "responsible_department": {
      "type": "choice",
      "instructions": "Which department should handle this case?",
      "criteria": {
        "billing": "Double charges and payment errors",
        "logistics": "Damaged, lost, or late shipments",
        "product_support": "Defective-item troubleshooting, replacements, and setup help"
      }
    },
    "urgency": {
      "type": "score",
      "instructions": "How urgent is this case?",
      "criteria": ["Routine", "Urgent", "Emergency"]
    }
  }
}

---
accTitle: One state, three question types
accDescr: A single state is evaluated by a noul, a choice and a score question, each returning its own typed answer.
---
flowchart LR
  state["state"]:::neutral
  noul["noul question"]:::primary
  choice["choice question"]:::accent
  score["score question"]:::success
  answers["answers map"]:::success

  state --> noul --> answers
  state --> choice --> answers
  state --> score --> answers

  classDef primary fill:#ede9fe,stroke:#7c3aed,color:#3b0764,stroke-width:1.5px
  classDef accent fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#2563eb,color:#0c4a6e,stroke-width:1.5px
  classDef success fill:#d1fae5,stroke:#059669,color:#064e3b,stroke-width:1.5px
  classDef neutral fill:#f4f4f5,stroke:#a1a1aa,color:#18181b,stroke-width:1.5px

Common fields

Every question carries:

• type — noul, choice or score.
• instructions — what the model must decide, stated as a proposition or a question. It may be a string or any JSON value.
• criteria — the label set, whose shape depends on the type.

Rules and limits

• questions must not be empty.
• choice requires at least one criterion.
• score requires between 2 and 10 levels, in increasing order.
• noul always has a yes/no decision; the labels are optional.

Consistency with training

The trainer uses the same question shapes plus an answer field, so a dataset mirrors the serving contract. See Preparing datasets.

Next steps

• Choice, Score, Noul — the details.
• Confidence — how certain the model is.
• Calling the API — the full request and response shapes.