State in Instructions

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

uv venv --python 3.12
.venv\Scripts\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-***

setx OPENAI_API_KEY sk-***

Run Agent

python session_state_in_instructions.py

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State in Instructions

Set OpenAI Key

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