BAML
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 74 of 163 programming languages by recommenders
People recommend BAML for fast structured LLM outputs and quick prompt iteration. The main caveat is that its external DSL adds complexity some find unnecessary.
People recommend BAML for fast structured LLM outputs and quick prompt iteration. The main caveat is that its external DSL adds complexity some find unnecessary.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Works well in practice
“that workaround we've found works quite well”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “Structured outputs create false confidence” “that worked super well for me multiple times”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “If Dspy is so great, why isn't anyone using it?” “been using it in production”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “If Dspy is so great, why isn't anyone using it?” Good fit for agents and SDKs
“In most places a proper SDK like BAML will be better suited.”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Koine” “Most agentic implementations should use something like BAML.”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Koine” “BAML is likewise a good fit when you prefer generated SDKs”
Comment from 1 Nov 2025 on Hacker News Good for structured outputs
“For structured outputs, JSON schema is slow and sluggish while BAML performs well.”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Agent design is still hard” “is really great for handling structured outputs”
Comment from 17 Jan 2026 in “LLM Structured Outputs Handbook” Readable for humans
“I'd rather write something human readable and debuggable.”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Structured outputs on the Claude Developer Platform” “This looks pretty nice for humans too actually.”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Baml: The Programming Language for Agents”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Adds unnecessary complexity
“I personally have a distaste for external DSLs as I think it generally introduces complexity that I don't think is actually worthwhile”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “If Dspy is so great, why isn't anyone using it?” “This isn't needed at all.”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Baml: The Programming Language for Agents”
Other programming languages people recommend
The four most recommended other programming languages, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 163 programming languages, rankedWhat people said
16 of the 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“This looks pretty nice for humans too actually.”
“This isn't needed at all.”
“that worked super well for me multiple times”
“been using it in production”
“I personally have a distaste for external DSLs as I think it generally introduces complexity that I don't think is actually worthwhile”
“I've been reaching for BAML when I really need prompt iteration at speed.”
“is really great for handling structured outputs”
“Most agentic implementations should use something like BAML.”
“In most places a proper SDK like BAML will be better suited.”
“that workaround we've found works quite well”
“I really like BAML but this post seems a little too much like a BAML funnel.”
“excels at representing nested data with fewer tokens than JSON”
“For structured outputs, JSON schema is slow and sluggish while BAML performs well.”
“I'd rather write something human readable and debuggable.”
“This looks like a great project.”
“BAML is likewise a good fit when you prefer generated SDKs”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.