Cost
A vague prompt often becomes a second and a third try. Each try sends the text again.
Home · Start here · 02 · Prompts that hold up
Lesson 2 of 7. Next: Checking AI output.
Lesson · No account
Prompts that hold up
A prompt that holds up states the task, the facts the model does not already have, who the reply is for, and the shape of the answer.
1 What it is
Four additions help. None of them is a guarantee.
- Context. The notes, the policy, or the constraint for this task.
- Role. Who will read the reply, or the job it should do.
- Examples. A few samples of the shape you want, marked as examples.
- Output format. A list, a short paragraph, a yes or no, or a limit on length.
Anthropic's prompting guide treats examples as a reliable way to steer the format of a reply, and it says to tell the model what the reply should be, not only what to avoid. Google's prompting strategies also say to include a few examples of the shape you want, and to try how many you need. This card does not depend on one vendor's tags or on a fixed number of examples.
Example prompt · not sent
Rewrite the note below for a teammate who was not in the meeting. Use only the note. Three decisions, then one open question. If the note does not say, write "not in the note".
Example of the shape: Decision: The launch date stays. Open question: not in the note.
Note: paste the note here, with names removed.
2 Why it matters
Quality
The model cannot use a fact you left out. It may fill the gap with a likely sentence.
Risk
An example that contains a real customer's name sends that name. Use a made-up example.
3 How to apply · try today
Take one prompt you already send. Add the reader, one fact the reply must use, and the output shape. Send it once in the tool you already use. Keep the prompt.
Common mistake
Adding "be accurate" and no source. The instruction does not create a document the model can read.
Self-check
Which line gives the model a fact it did not already have?
Open a prompt you have already sent. Rewrite it in four lines: who reads it, the source text, one example of the shape, and the format. Send the new prompt once. Keep it where you will find it next time.
Do this in the chatbot you already use. This page does not send the prompt anywhere.
Role, examples, and format steer the reply. They do not check it. The next card is the check.
The Prompting card on the builder path is the same idea when you are building a product, not only writing a chat.
Go further
The Prompting card is how you state the task when you are building, not only in a chat.
Questions
- Will a better prompt stop a wrong answer?
- It makes the job clearer. It does not check the reply. You still compare claims to a source.
- Where do the facts go?
- In the prompt, as the note or the paragraph the reply must use. An instruction to be accurate does not add them.