Few-Shot Prompting

What it is

Few-shot prompting is providing a few examples of the input-output pattern you want before asking the AI to perform the task. Instead of just describing what you want, you show 2-5 examples of correct responses. The AI learns the pattern from your examples.

Why it matters

Few-shot prompting dramatically improves consistency and accuracy for complex tasks. When you need specific formatting, a particular style, or complex transformations, showing examples is often more effective than describing. It's especially useful for tasks that are hard to explain but easy to demonstrate.