diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 40ec43e..0cb08b7 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: mall
 Title: Run multiple 'Large Language Model' predictions against a table, or 
     vectors
-Version: 0.0.0.9003
+Version: 0.0.0.9004
 Authors@R: 
     person("Edgar", "Ruiz", , "first.last@example.com", role = c("aut", "cre"))
 Description: Run multiple 'Large Language Model' predictions against a table. The
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Imports:
     cli,
     dplyr,
     glue,
+    jsonlite,
     ollamar,
     rlang
 Suggests: 
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 9330444..a79e90c 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ S3method(llm_sentiment,data.frame)
 S3method(llm_summarize,"tbl_Spark SQL")
 S3method(llm_summarize,data.frame)
 S3method(llm_translate,data.frame)
-S3method(m_backend_generate,mall_ollama)
-S3method(m_backend_generate,mall_simulate_llm)
 S3method(m_backend_prompt,mall_defaults)
+S3method(m_backend_submit,mall_ollama)
+S3method(m_backend_submit,mall_simulate_llm)
 S3method(print,mall_defaults)
 export(llm_classify)
 export(llm_custom)
@@ -25,15 +25,16 @@ export(llm_vec_extract)
 export(llm_vec_sentiment)
 export(llm_vec_summarize)
 export(llm_vec_translate)
-export(m_backend_generate)
 export(m_backend_prompt)
+export(m_backend_submit)
 import(cli)
 import(glue)
 import(rlang)
 importFrom(dplyr,bind_cols)
 importFrom(dplyr,mutate)
 importFrom(dplyr,tibble)
-importFrom(ollamar,generate)
+importFrom(jsonlite,fromJSON)
+importFrom(ollamar,chat)
 importFrom(ollamar,list_models)
 importFrom(ollamar,test_connection)
 importFrom(utils,menu)
diff --git a/R/llm-classify.R b/R/llm-classify.R
index 81cfa4e..75e95f9 100644
--- a/R/llm-classify.R
+++ b/R/llm-classify.R
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ llm_vec_classify <- function(x,
                              labels,
                              additional_prompt = "") {
   llm_vec_prompt(
-    x = x, prompt_label = "classify",
+    x = x,
+    prompt_label = "classify",
     additional_prompt = additional_prompt,
     labels = labels,
     valid_resps = labels
diff --git a/R/llm-custom.R b/R/llm-custom.R
index 77c2bc2..c5d627b 100644
--- a/R/llm-custom.R
+++ b/R/llm-custom.R
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 llm_custom <- function(
     .data,
     col,
-    prompt,
+    prompt = "",
     pred_name = ".pred",
     valid_resps = "") {
   UseMethod("llm_custom")
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ llm_custom <- function(
 #' @export
 llm_custom.data.frame <- function(.data,
                                   col,
-                                  prompt,
+                                  prompt = "",
                                   pred_name = ".pred",
                                   valid_resps = NULL) {
   mutate(
@@ -39,9 +39,18 @@ llm_custom.data.frame <- function(.data,
 
 #' @rdname llm_custom
 #' @export
-llm_vec_custom <- function(x, prompt, valid_resps = NULL) {
+llm_vec_custom <- function(x, prompt = "", valid_resps = NULL) {
   llm_use(.silent = TRUE, force = FALSE)
-  resp <- m_backend_generate(defaults_get(), x, prompt)
+  if (!inherits(prompt, "list")) {
+    p_split <- strsplit(prompt, "\\{\\{x\\}\\}")[[1]]
+    if (length(p_split) == 1 && p_split == prompt) {
+      content <- glue("{prompt}\n{{x}}")
+    } else {
+      content <- prompt
+    }
+    prompt <- list(list(role = "user", content = content))
+  }
+  resp <- m_backend_submit(defaults_get(), x, prompt)
   if (!is.null(valid_resps)) {
     errors <- !resp %in% valid_resps
     resp[errors] <- NA
diff --git a/R/llm-extract.R b/R/llm-extract.R
index 3f043ce..e467a5b 100644
--- a/R/llm-extract.R
+++ b/R/llm-extract.R
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ llm_extract.data.frame <- function(.data,
     resp <- map(
       resp,
       \(x) ({
-        x <- trimws(strsplit(x, "\\|")[[1]])
+        x <- strsplit(x, "\\|")[[1]]
         names(x) <- clean_names(labels)
         x
       })
@@ -76,10 +76,14 @@ llm_extract.data.frame <- function(.data,
 llm_vec_extract <- function(x,
                             labels = c(),
                             additional_prompt = "") {
-  llm_vec_prompt(
+  resp <- llm_vec_prompt(
     x = x,
     prompt_label = "extract",
     labels = labels,
     additional_prompt = additional_prompt
   )
+  map_chr(
+    resp,
+    \(x) paste0(as.character(fromJSON(x, flatten = TRUE)), collapse = "|")
+  )
 }
diff --git a/R/m-backend-prompt.R b/R/m-backend-prompt.R
index 7223a97..d34c34b 100644
--- a/R/m-backend-prompt.R
+++ b/R/m-backend-prompt.R
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#' @rdname m_backend_generate
+#' @rdname m_backend_submit
 #' @export
 m_backend_prompt <- function(backend, additional) {
   UseMethod("m_backend_prompt")
@@ -9,60 +9,92 @@ m_backend_prompt.mall_defaults <- function(backend, additional = "") {
   list(
     sentiment = function(options) {
       options <- paste0(options, collapse = ", ")
-      x <- glue(paste(
-        "You are a helpful sentiment engine.",
-        "Return only one of the following answers: {options}.",
-        "No capitalization. No explanations.",
-        additional,
-        "The answer is based on the following text:"
-      ))
+      list(
+        list(
+          role = "user",
+          content = glue(paste(
+            "You are a helpful sentiment engine.",
+            "Return only one of the following answers: {options}.",
+            "No capitalization. No explanations.",
+            "{additional}",
+            "The answer is based on the following text:\n{{x}}"
+          ))
+        )
+      )
     },
     summarize = function(max_words) {
-      glue(paste(
-        "You are a helpful summarization engine.",
-        "Your answer will contain no no capitalization and no explanations.",
-        "Return no more than {max_words} words.",
-        additional,
-        "The answer is the summary of the following text:"
-      ))
+      list(
+        list(
+          role = "user",
+          content = glue(paste(
+            "You are a helpful summarization engine.",
+            "Your answer will contain no no capitalization and no explanations.",
+            "Return no more than {max_words} words.",
+            "{additional}",
+            "The answer is the summary of the following text:\n{{x}}"
+          ))
+        )
+      )
     },
     classify = function(labels) {
       labels <- paste0(labels, collapse = ", ")
-      glue(paste(
-        "You are a helpful classification engine.",
-        "Determine if the text refers to one of the following: {labels}.",
-        "No capitalization. No explanations.",
-        additional,
-        "The answer is based on the following text:"
-      ))
+      list(
+        list(
+          role = "user",
+          content = glue(paste(
+            "You are a helpful classification engine.",
+            "Determine if the text refers to one of the following: {labels}.",
+            "No capitalization. No explanations.",
+            "{additional}",
+            "The answer is based on the following text:\n{{x}}"
+          ))
+        )
+      )
     },
     extract = function(labels) {
       no_labels <- length(labels)
-      labels <- paste0(labels, collapse = ", ")
-      glue(paste(
-        "You are a helpful text extraction engine.",
-        "Extract the {labels} being referred to on the text.",
-        "I expect {no_labels} item(s) exactly.",
-        "No capitalization. No explanations.",
-        "Return the response in a simple pipe separated list, no headers.",
-        additional,
-        "The answer is based on the following text:"
-      ))
+      col_labels <- paste0(labels, collapse = ", ")
+      json_labels <- paste0("\"", labels, "\":your answer", collapse = ",")
+      json_labels <- paste0("{{", json_labels, "}}")
+      plural <- ifelse(no_labels > 1, "s", "")
+      list(
+        list(
+          role = "system",
+          content = "You only speak simple JSON. Do not write normal text."
+        ),
+        list(
+          role = "user",
+          content = glue(paste(
+            "You are a helpful text extraction engine.",
+            "Extract the {col_labels} being referred to on the text.",
+            "I expect {no_labels} item{plural} exactly.",
+            "No capitalization. No explanations.",
+            "You will use this JSON this format exclusively: {json_labels} .",
+            "{additional}",
+            "The answer is based on the following text:\n{{x}}"
+          ))
+        )
+      )
     },
     translate = function(language) {
-      glue(paste(
-        "You are a helpful translation engine.",
-        "You will return only the translation text, no explanations.",
-        "The target language to translate to is: {language}.",
-        additional,
-        "The answer is the summary of the following text:"
-      ))
+      list(
+        list(
+          role = "user",
+          content = glue(paste(
+            "You are a helpful translation engine.",
+            "You will return only the translation text, no explanations.",
+            "The target language to translate to is: {language}.",
+            "{additional}",
+            "The answer is the summary of the following text:\n{{x}}"
+          ))
+        )
+      )
     }
   )
 }
 
 get_prompt <- function(label, ..., .additional = "") {
-  defaults <- m_backend_prompt(defaults_get(), .additional)
+  defaults <- m_backend_prompt(defaults_get(), additional = .additional)
   fn <- defaults[[label]]
   fn(...)
 }
@@ -75,5 +107,5 @@ llm_vec_prompt <- function(x,
                            ...) {
   llm_use(.silent = TRUE, force = FALSE)
   prompt <- get_prompt(prompt_label, ..., .additional = additional_prompt)
-  llm_vec_custom(x, prompt, valid_resps)
+  llm_vec_custom(x, prompt, valid_resps = valid_resps)
 }
diff --git a/R/m-backend-generate.R b/R/m-backend-submit.R
similarity index 64%
rename from R/m-backend-generate.R
rename to R/m-backend-submit.R
index a9741fb..944e462 100644
--- a/R/m-backend-generate.R
+++ b/R/m-backend-submit.R
@@ -2,37 +2,37 @@
 #'
 #' @param backend An `mall_defaults` object
 #' @param x The body of the text to be submitted to the LLM
-#' @param base_prompt The instructions to the LLM about what to do with `x`
+#' @param prompt The additional information to add to the submission
 #' @param additional Additional text to insert to the `base_prompt`
 #'
-#' @returns `m_backend_generate` does not return an object. `m_backend_prompt`
+#' @returns `m_backend_submit` does not return an object. `m_backend_prompt`
 #' returns a list of functions that contain the base prompts.
 #'
 #' @keywords internal
 #' @export
-m_backend_generate <- function(backend, x, base_prompt) {
-  UseMethod("m_backend_generate")
+m_backend_submit <- function(backend, x, prompt) {
+  UseMethod("m_backend_submit")
 }
 
 #' @export
-m_backend_generate.mall_ollama <- function(backend, x, base_prompt) {
+m_backend_submit.mall_ollama <- function(backend, x, prompt) {
   args <- as.list(backend)
   args$backend <- NULL
   map_chr(
     x,
     \(x) {
       .args <- c(
-        prompt = glue("{base_prompt}\n{x}"),
+        messages = list(map(prompt, \(i) map(i, \(j) glue(j, x = x)))),
         output = "text",
         args
       )
-      exec("generate", !!!.args)
+      exec("chat", !!!.args)
     }
   )
 }
 
 #' @export
-m_backend_generate.mall_simulate_llm <- function(backend, x, base_prompt) {
+m_backend_submit.mall_simulate_llm <- function(backend, x, base_prompt) {
   args <- backend
   class(args) <- "list"
   if (args$model == "pipe") {
diff --git a/R/mall.R b/R/mall.R
index a468176..051f5b9 100644
--- a/R/mall.R
+++ b/R/mall.R
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-#' @importFrom ollamar generate test_connection list_models
+#' @importFrom ollamar chat test_connection list_models
 #' @importFrom dplyr mutate tibble bind_cols
 #' @importFrom utils menu
+#' @importFrom jsonlite fromJSON
 #' @import rlang
 #' @import glue
 #' @import cli
diff --git a/man/llm_custom.Rd b/man/llm_custom.Rd
index c723271..d6cce66 100644
--- a/man/llm_custom.Rd
+++ b/man/llm_custom.Rd
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@
 \alias{llm_vec_custom}
 \title{Send a custom prompt to the LLM}
 \usage{
-llm_custom(.data, col, prompt, pred_name = ".pred", valid_resps = "")
+llm_custom(.data, col, prompt = "", pred_name = ".pred", valid_resps = "")
 
-llm_vec_custom(x, prompt, valid_resps = NULL)
+llm_vec_custom(x, prompt = "", valid_resps = NULL)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{.data}{A \code{data.frame} or \code{tbl} object that contains the text to be analyzed}
diff --git a/man/m_backend_generate.Rd b/man/m_backend_submit.Rd
similarity index 60%
rename from man/m_backend_generate.Rd
rename to man/m_backend_submit.Rd
index 61878e1..d517182 100644
--- a/man/m_backend_generate.Rd
+++ b/man/m_backend_submit.Rd
@@ -1,25 +1,25 @@
 % Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
-% Please edit documentation in R/m-backend-generate.R, R/m-backend-prompt.R
-\name{m_backend_generate}
-\alias{m_backend_generate}
+% Please edit documentation in R/m-backend-prompt.R, R/m-backend-submit.R
+\name{m_backend_prompt}
 \alias{m_backend_prompt}
+\alias{m_backend_submit}
 \title{Functions to integrate different back-ends}
 \usage{
-m_backend_generate(backend, x, base_prompt)
-
 m_backend_prompt(backend, additional)
+
+m_backend_submit(backend, x, prompt)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{backend}{An \code{mall_defaults} object}
 
-\item{x}{The body of the text to be submitted to the LLM}
+\item{additional}{Additional text to insert to the \code{base_prompt}}
 
-\item{base_prompt}{The instructions to the LLM about what to do with \code{x}}
+\item{x}{The body of the text to be submitted to the LLM}
 
-\item{additional}{Additional text to insert to the \code{base_prompt}}
+\item{prompt}{The additional information to add to the submission}
 }
 \value{
-\code{m_backend_generate} does not return an object. \code{m_backend_prompt}
+\code{m_backend_submit} does not return an object. \code{m_backend_prompt}
 returns a list of functions that contain the base prompts.
 }
 \description{
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-llm-classify.R b/tests/testthat/test-llm-classify.R
index acafa2a..7c44c5e 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-llm-classify.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-llm-classify.R
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 test_that("Classify works", {
   test_text <- "this is a test"
-   llm_use("simulate_llm", "echo", .silent = TRUE)
+  llm_use("simulate_llm", "echo", .silent = TRUE)
   expect_equal(
     llm_vec_classify(test_text, labels = test_text),
     test_text
@@ -14,14 +14,14 @@ test_that("Classify works", {
     llm_classify(data.frame(x = test_text), x, labels = test_text),
     data.frame(x = test_text, .classify = test_text)
   )
-  
+
   expect_equal(
     llm_classify(
-      data.frame(x = test_text), 
-      x, 
-      labels = test_text, 
+      data.frame(x = test_text),
+      x,
+      labels = test_text,
       pred_name = "new"
-      ),
+    ),
     data.frame(x = test_text, new = test_text)
   )
 })
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-llm-custom.R b/tests/testthat/test-llm-custom.R
index a930dc4..fdfc9a5 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-llm-custom.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-llm-custom.R
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 test_that("Custom works", {
   test_text <- "this is a test"
-  llm_use("simulate_llm", "prompt", .silent = TRUE)
+  llm_use("simulate_llm", "echo", .silent = TRUE)
   expect_equal(
     llm_vec_custom(test_text, "this is a test: "),
-    paste0("this is a test: \n", test_text)
+    test_text
   )
   expect_message(
     x <- llm_vec_custom(test_text, "this is a test: ", valid_resps = "not valid")
@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ test_that("Custom works", {
 
   expect_equal(
     llm_custom(data.frame(x = test_text), x, "this is a test: "),
-    data.frame(x = test_text, .pred = paste0("this is a test: \n", test_text))
+    data.frame(x = test_text, .pred = test_text)
   )
 
   expect_equal(
     llm_custom(data.frame(x = test_text), x, "this is a test: ", pred_name = "new"),
-    data.frame(x = test_text, new = paste0("this is a test: \n", test_text))
+    data.frame(x = test_text, new = test_text)
   )
 })