diff --git a/effectful/handlers/llm/agent.py b/docs/source/agent.py
similarity index 57%
rename from effectful/handlers/llm/agent.py
rename to docs/source/agent.py
index f80cf159..3a94e47d 100644
--- a/effectful/handlers/llm/agent.py
+++ b/docs/source/agent.py
@@ -1,34 +1,23 @@
 import functools
-from typing import Optional
 
 from effectful.handlers.llm import Template
-from effectful.handlers.llm.providers import compute_response, format_model_input
+from effectful.handlers.llm.providers import (
+    LiteLLMProvider,
+    compute_response,
+    format_model_input,
+)
 from effectful.ops.semantics import fwd, handler
 from effectful.ops.syntax import defop
+from effectful.ops.types import NotHandled
 
 
 class Agent:
-    '''When inheriting from Agent, Template-valued methods will have the
-    previous history of the conversation injected prior to their prompts.
-
-    Example:
-
-    >>> class ConversationAgent(Agent):
-    ...     @Template.define
-    ...     def respond(self, message: str) -> str:
-    ...         """Continue the conversation in response to the message '{message}'"""
-    ...         raise NotImplementedError
-
-    Any calls to `agent.format` will have the previous conversation history in their context.
-
-    '''
-
     def __init__(self):
-        self.state = []
+        self.state = []  # persist the list of messages
 
     @defop
     @staticmethod
-    def current_agent() -> Optional["Agent"]:
+    def current_agent() -> "Agent | None":
         return None
 
     def __init_subclass__(cls):
@@ -51,14 +40,33 @@ def wrapper(self, *args, **kwargs):
             setattr(cls, method_name, wrapper)
 
     def _format_model_input(self, template, other, *args, **kwargs):
+        # update prompt with previous list of messages
         prompt = fwd()
         if Agent.current_agent() is self:
             assert self is other
-            prompt = self.state + prompt
+            self.state.extend(prompt)
+            prompt = self.state
         return prompt
 
     def _compute_response(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        # save response into persisted state
         response = fwd()
         if Agent.current_agent() is self:
-            self.state += response.output
+            self.state.append(response.choices[0].message.model_dump())
         return response
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+
+    class ChatBot(Agent):
+        @Template.define
+        def send(self, user_input: str) -> str:
+            """User writes: {user_input}"""
+            raise NotHandled
+
+    provider = LiteLLMProvider()
+    chatbot = ChatBot()
+
+    with handler(provider):
+        print(chatbot.send("Hi!, how are you? I am in france."))
+        print(chatbot.send("Remind me again, where am I?"))
diff --git a/docs/source/agent_example.rst b/docs/source/agent_example.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a9993c56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/agent_example.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+Contextual LLM Agents
+======================
+Here we give an example of using effectful to implement chatbot-style context-aware LLM agents.
+
+In the code below, we define a helper class :class:`Agent` which wraps its
+subclasses' template operations in a wrapper that stores and persists
+the history of prior interactions with the LLM:
+  - :func:`_format_model_input` wraps every prompt sent to the LLM and
+    stashes the generated API message into a state variable.
+  - :func:`_compute_response` wraps the response from the LLM provider and
+    stashes the returned message into the state.
+
+Using this we can construct an agent which remembers the context of
+the conversation:
+
+.. literalinclude:: ./agent.py
+    :language: python
+
diff --git a/docs/source/index.rst b/docs/source/index.rst
index 92aa0207..626c0a56 100644
--- a/docs/source/index.rst
+++ b/docs/source/index.rst
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Table of Contents
    lambda_example
    semi_ring_example
    beam_search_example
+   agent_example
 
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 2