---
title: "Few-Shot Examples"
description: "Guide agent responses using few-shot prompting."
icon: "clone"
---


**Few-shot prompting** is a powerful technique where you provide a small number of sample interactions (typically 2 to 5) to guide your agent's behavior. This method helps the agent understand the desired output format and task requirements by learning from the given examples, thereby improving performance without writing extensive instructions.

## Crafting Effective Examples

- **Provide Task Demonstrations**: Use examples that clearly illustrate the tasks that your agents will perform.
- **Use Realistic Scenarios**: Include interactions that mirror actual conversations that your agent will handle.
- **Use Preferred Tone and Style**: Ensure the agent's replies in your examples match your desired brand voice.

## Defining Few-Shot Examples

In **Agency Swarm**, few-shot examples are earlier messages that show the style you want. Put them in `instructions` as plain text or pass them as message history to `get_response` / `get_response_stream`.

Optional fields like `attachments` and `metadata` can be included in message history but are not required for basic examples.

## Using Few-Shot Examples

Pick one of these ways:

<Tabs>
    <Tab title="Message History (Scalable)">

    ```python
    from agency_swarm import Agency, Agent

    support_agent = Agent(
        name="CustomerSupportAgent",
        instructions="You assist customers with troubleshooting.",
    )
    agency = Agency(support_agent)

    examples = [
        {"role": "user", "content": "My device won't turn on."},
        {"role": "assistant", "content": "Please hold the power button for 10 seconds to restart the device."},
    ]
    new_message = {"role": "user", "content": "It still won't start."}

    response = await agency.get_response(examples + [new_message])
    ```

    </Tab>

    <Tab title="Instructions (Simple)">

    ```python
    from agency_swarm import Agent

    instructions = """
    You assist customers with troubleshooting.

    Example:
    User: My device won't turn on.
    Assistant: Please hold the power button for 10 seconds to restart the device.
    """

    agent = Agent(
        name="CustomerSupportAgent",
        instructions=instructions,
    )
    ```

    </Tab>

</Tabs>

Message history is more scalable. Instructions are best for short examples.

See more advanced features in [Agent Class](/core-framework/agents/advanced-configuration)