Session State Manual Update

Modify session state between runs with get_session_state() and update_session_state().

Session State Manual Update.

session_state_manual_update.py
"""
Session State Manual Update
=============================

Session State Manual Update.
"""

from agno.agent import Agent
from agno.db.sqlite import SqliteDb
from agno.models.openai import OpenAIResponses
from agno.run import RunContext


def add_item(run_context: RunContext, item: str) -> str:
    """Add an item to the shopping list."""
    if run_context.session_state is None:
        run_context.session_state = {}

    run_context.session_state["shopping_list"].append(item)  # type: ignore
    return f"The shopping list is now {run_context.session_state['shopping_list']}"  # type: ignore


# Create an Agent that maintains state
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Create Agent
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
agent = Agent(
    model=OpenAIResponses(id="gpt-5-mini"),
    # Initialize the session state with an empty shopping list (this is the default session state for all users)
    session_state={"shopping_list": []},
    db=SqliteDb(db_file="tmp/agents.db"),
    tools=[add_item],
    # You can use variables from the session state in the instructions
    instructions="Current state (shopping list) is: {shopping_list}",
    markdown=True,
)

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Run Agent
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Example usage
    agent.print_response("Add milk, eggs, and bread to the shopping list", stream=True)

    current_session_state = agent.get_session_state()
    current_session_state["shopping_list"].append("chocolate")
    agent.update_session_state(current_session_state)

    agent.print_response("What's on my list?", stream=True)

    print(f"Final session state: {agent.get_session_state()}")

Run the Example

Set up your virtual environment

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

Install dependencies

uv pip install -U agno openai sqlalchemy

Export your OpenAI API key

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_openai_api_key_here"

Run the example

Save the code above as session_state_manual_update.py, then run:

python session_state_manual_update.py

Full source: cookbook/02_agents/05_state_and_session/session_state_manual_update.py