State in Instructions

Reference session state variables directly inside an agent's instruction templates.

Use session state variables directly in agent instructions. Initialize the state, then reference the variables in your instruction templates.

Create a Python file

session_state_in_instructions.py
from agno.agent import Agent
from agno.models.openai import OpenAIResponses

agent = Agent(
    model=OpenAIResponses(id="gpt-5.2"),
    session_state={"user_name": "John"},
    instructions="Users name is {user_name}",
    markdown=True,
)

agent.print_response("What is my name?", stream=True)

Set up your virtual environment

uv venv --python 3.12
source .venv/bin/activate

Install dependencies

uv pip install -U agno openai

Export your OpenAI API key

Set OpenAI Key

Set your OPENAI_API_KEY as an environment variable. You can get one from OpenAI.

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-***

Run Agent

python session_state_in_instructions.py