Sample playbook · this is the “aha”

Extract structured data from a messy invoice

Turn a scanned or photographed invoice into clean JSON — vendor, date, line items, total — that matches the golden example exactly.

by Amara Okafor· @amara· v3

Not yet verified on Sonnet 5claude-sonnet-5 · awaiting reports

The spec

Target models: claude-sonnet-5 · claude-opus-4.1
Stack: Claude API · TypeScript · zod
Inputs required: One invoice as a PDF or image (a real, slightly messy scan is best).
Time: ~10 min
Difficulty: Intermediate
Cost estimate: ~12k tokens · ~$0.04

Expected output

A single JSON object with keys: vendor, invoice_date, line_items[], total — validating against the golden schema.

Golden example

One real input, one real output — the pass/fail target. Fakes can’t survive it.

input

invoice_0912.pdf (Northwind Traders · 3 line items · $1,204.50)

output

{
  "vendor": "Northwind Traders",
  "invoice_date": "2025-09-12",
  "line_items": [
    { "desc": "Ergonomic chair", "qty": 2, "unit": 349.00 },
    { "desc": "Standing desk",   "qty": 1, "unit": 429.50 },
    { "desc": "Delivery",        "qty": 1, "unit": 77.00 }
  ],
  "total": 1204.50
}

The reports

showing 4 of 14

Append-only. Every badge above is auditable back to these.

Worked· @devkwe
Clean pass on a phone photo. Totals matched to the cent.
claude-sonnet-53 days ago
Worked· @mira.b
claude-sonnet-54 days ago
Worked with changes· @tomas
Needed a stricter date prompt for DD/MM invoices — otherwise solid.
claude-sonnet-55 days ago
Worked· @priya
claude-opus-4.11 week ago

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