What is the right way to add content in the messages

[modest jackal]

I am seeing that it is possible to format (both user, assistant, and system) messages this way

    {
        "role": "user", 
        "content": "Can you count up to 10?"
    }

or this way

    {
        "role": "user", 
        "content": [
            {
                "type": "text",
                "text": "Can you count up to 10?"
            }
        ]
    }

i.e. the difference is that you make a "content" a list of the dictionaries
second option gives more flexibility as it allows adding images that list example

    {
        "role": "user", 
        "content": [
            {
                "type": "text",
                "text": "This is previous context blah blah blah. Now main question is: What is in this image (specifically the money in euros, generate EURO sign in the response)?"
            },
            {
                "type": "image_url",
                "image_url": {
                    "url": "https://d3dqioy2sca31t.cloudfront.net/Projects/cms/production/000/032/621/original/248bc404f13f59cb775c194cedcf08a6/article-tips-money-euros-in-hand.jpg"
                }
            }
        ]
    },

So what is really the right way of formatting your messages (both without any files or with) according to OpenRouter team?

[lusty stump]

Im pretty sure, it really doesnt matter (unless your doing image inputs)
In the end, the provider will format it to their liking. Azure's playground for example does the content list and every new line is a new item which is weird but i dont think it really matters in the end

[compact lion]

I second this