# Pattern: Ollama Structured Output Fallback

## Symptom
A workflow calls a local Ollama model (e.g., `gemma3:4b`, small quantized models) with a structured-output or JSON schema request, but the returned text is not valid JSON, misses required fields, wraps the JSON in prose, or otherwise fails schema validation.

## Affected Projects
- Cyber Tips Newsletter pipeline
- Proxmox VE snapshot summarizer
- AI video generation pipeline (ComfyUI + WAN 2.1 payloads)
- Forex trading analysis workflow

## Root Cause
Small local instruction-tuned models have weaker schema adherence than frontier APIs. They may produce JSON-like text that does not strictly conform to the requested schema, especially under complex prompts or when asked to combine generation with strict formatting.

## Standard Fix
Add a downstream JavaScript Code node (or equivalent parser) in n8n that:
1. Attempts a strict `JSON.parse()` first.
2. On failure, applies regex-based JSON extraction to pull the first `{...}` or `[...]` block from the text.
3. Optionally sanitizes common issues (trailing commas, unescaped newlines, code fences).
4. Falls back to a safe default or error flag if extraction still fails.

This is a deliberate workaround, not a substitute for fixing the model. Document it as such wherever applied.

## When to Apply
- Any new n8n workflow that uses a local Ollama model for structured extraction, classification, or JSON generation.
- Any integration where the downstream node requires strict JSON and the LLM is under ~8B parameters or known to drift.

## Verification
- Test the fallback with intentionally malformed LLM output.
- Confirm downstream nodes receive valid parsed JSON.
- Log fallback events so model quality can be monitored separately.

## Related Patterns
- `json-escaping-downstream-api`
- `llm-as-parser-fallback`
