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# Prompt templates

Language models take text as input - that text is commonly referred to as a prompt.
Typically this is not simply a hardcoded string but rather a combination of a template, some examples, and user input.
LangChain provides several classes and functions to make constructing and working with prompts easy.

## What is a prompt template?

A prompt template refers to a reproducible way to generate a prompt. It contains a text string ("the template"), that can take in a set of parameters from the end user and generates a prompt.

A prompt template can contain:
- instructions to the language model,
- a set of few shot examples to help the language model generate a better response,
- a question to the language model.

import GetStarted from "@snippets/modules/model_io/prompts/prompt_templates/get_started.mdx"

<GetStarted/>
