Get started

Prompt engineering

5 min read

The difference between useful AI output and garbage is usually the prompt.

Vague prompt

Write me a blog post about AI

Output

"Artificial intelligence is transforming the world as we know it. In this blog post, we will explore..."

Structured prompt

roleYou are a tech journalist writing for non-technical founders.

contextThe audience runs small businesses and has heard of AI but never used it.

taskWrite a 500-word blog post: 3 ways small businesses can use AI today.

formatListicle with H2 subheads. Conversational tone. End with a CTA.

constraintsNo jargon. No "AI will replace you" fear-mongering.

Output

"You don't need a data science team to start using AI. Here are three things you can do this week..."

Anatomy of a good prompt

ROLE

You are a senior marketing strategist with 10 years of B2B SaaS experience.

CONTEXT

We sell a project management tool to mid-market engineering teams. Our ICP is VP of Engineering at 200-1000 person companies.

TASK

Write a cold outreach email that introduces our tool and asks for a 15-minute demo call.

FORMAT

Keep it under 100 words. Use short paragraphs. End with a single clear CTA.

CONSTRAINTS

Don't use buzzwords like "synergy" or "leverage." Don't open with "I hope this finds you well." Sound human, not salesy.

Prompting patterns

Chain of thought

Ask the AI to reason step by step

"Let's think through this: 1. First, identify the audience... 2. Then, define the core message... 3. Finally, pick the right tone..."

Few-shot examples

Show what good output looks like

Example input: "quarterly sales report" Example output: "Q3 Revenue: $2.1M (+12%)..." Now do the same for: "monthly churn"

Role assignment

Give the AI an expert identity

"You are a financial analyst with 10 years at Goldman Sachs. Analyze this P&L statement and flag anomalies."

Output formatting

Specify the exact structure you want

"Return as a markdown table: | Metric | Value | Trend | |--------|-------|-------| | ... | ... | ... |"

Try it yourself

Copy

You are a [ROLE] with expertise in [DOMAIN].

Context: [DESCRIBE YOUR SITUATION IN 1-2 SENTENCES]

Task: [WHAT YOU NEED — BE SPECIFIC]

Format requirements:
- [LENGTH / STRUCTURE / STYLE]
- [ANY SPECIFIC SECTIONS OR HEADINGS]

Constraints:
- [WHAT TO AVOID]
- [TONE OR VOICE GUIDELINES]

Fill in the brackets, paste into any AI tool, and compare the output to an unstructured prompt.

Keep exploring

Concept

What are AI agents?

How prompts become autonomous workflows

Concept

MCP: Model Context Protocol

Give your prompts access to real data