{"slug": "ask-hn-what-is-a-good-format-for-a-tool-to-report-data-to-a-llm", "title": "Ask HN: What is a good format for a tool to report data to a LLM?", "summary": "A Hacker News user asks what data format is best for CLI tools to report structured data to large language models, noting humans prefer visually organized text while machines use tab-separated or JSON formats. The discussion seeks the most efficient format for LLMs to grasp tabular data, with applications open until July 27.", "body_md": "| ||||||||||||\n3 points by |\nFor CLI tools, humans like visually organized text possibly with colors or TUIs. Machines likes tabs-separated tabular data, or json and similar. What's the equivalent for LLMs for tabular or structured data? What makes them grasp the data easily and efficiently? | |||||||||||\nApplications are open till July 27. |", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-what-is-a-good-format-for-a-tool-to-report-data-to-a-llm", "canonical_source": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49176440", "published_at": "2026-08-04 22:57:28+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-04 23:23:09.012684+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["large-language-models", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["Hacker News"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-what-is-a-good-format-for-a-tool-to-report-data-to-a-llm", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-what-is-a-good-format-for-a-tool-to-report-data-to-a-llm.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-what-is-a-good-format-for-a-tool-to-report-data-to-a-llm.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-what-is-a-good-format-for-a-tool-to-report-data-to-a-llm.jsonld"}}