Measure how sampling temperature changes variation in model responses.

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This complete lesson was converted from the matching notebook stored locally in the TechClub repository. Outputs are cleared; never add API keys or private data.

Goal, prerequisites, and setup

Compare low and high sampling settings without confusing creativity with correctness. Complete the requests lesson first; know Python functions and basic measurement. Install anthropic and python-dotenv, set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and ANTHROPIC_MODEL, and record the exact temperature values supported by your provider.

Run the same prompt several times at each setting, save the outputs, and compare variety, relevance, and errors. A single response cannot demonstrate a temperature effect.

"""
TEMPERATURE
-> It controls the randomness of the model's output.
-> A low temperature (e.g., 0.2) makes the output more focused and deterministic.
-> A high temperature (e.g., 0.8) makes the output more diverse and creative.
"""

# Load environment variables
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

# Create an API client
import os
from anthropic import Anthropic

client = Anthropic()

model = os.getenv("ANTHROPIC_MODEL")

# Helpers
import inspect

def add_message(messages, content, role):
    message = {"role": role, "content": content}
    messages.append(message)

def chat(messages, system=None):
    params = {
        "model": model,
        "max_tokens": 200,
        "messages": messages,
    }

    if system:
        params["system"] = system

    print(params)
    message = client.messages.create(**params)

    return message.content[0].text

messages = []

add_message(messages,
            "Generate a one sentence movie idea",
            role="user")
answer = chat(messages)
print("===== HIGH Temperature =====")
print(answer)
print(" ")

messages = []

add_message(messages,
            "Generate a one sentence movie idea",
            role="user")
answer = chat(messages)
print("===== LOW Temperature =====")
print(answer)
print(" ")

Evidence and references