Few-Shot Prompting
Providing an AI model with a small number of examples to guide its output format or style.
Definition
Few-shot prompting is an AI prompting technique in which the user provides a small number of examples — typically 2–5 — of the desired input-output format within the prompt itself, before asking the model to produce a new output following the same pattern. This contrasts with zero-shot prompting (no examples) and one-shot prompting (exactly one example). Few-shot prompting is particularly effective for format-sensitive tasks.
Why It Matters
Few-shot prompting dramatically improves output consistency and format adherence when generating structured content at scale — meta descriptions, glossary entries, product descriptions, or social media posts in a specific style. By showing the model what 'good' looks like, you reduce post-generation editing and ensure outputs match your brand's format and voice.