Guidance: Complete Guide 2026
PythonAI Agent Framework19k+ stars
Last updated:
Overview
A language for controlling large language models developed by Microsoft. Guidance provides a templating syntax that interleaves generation, prompting, and logical control, enabling precise output control with guaranteed structure.
Key Features
✓Constrained generation with grammar enforcement
✓Template-based prompt programming
✓Guaranteed JSON and structured output
✓Token healing for better generation quality
✓Support for local and API models
✓Role-based chat template support
Use Cases
- → Guaranteed structured output generation
- → Complex prompt programming with control flow
- → Form filling and data extraction
- → Template-based content generation
Pros & Cons
Pros
- +Precise control over LLM output format
- +Faster than retry-based structured output approaches
- +Clean template syntax for complex prompts
- +Works with both local and cloud models
Cons
- -Unique syntax requires learning a new paradigm
- -Less suitable for freeform creative generation
- -Community smaller than prompt engineering alternatives
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Guidance?▾
A language for controlling large language models developed by Microsoft. Guidance provides a templating syntax that interleaves generation, prompting, and logical control, enabling precise output control with guaranteed structure.
What language is Guidance built in?▾
Guidance is primarily built in Python.
Is Guidance good for production?▾
Guidance has 19k+ GitHub stars. Precise control over LLM output format for guaranteed structured output generation.