Prompt Engineering 101: Write Prompts That Work Every Time

The five building blocks

Role, task, context, format and constraints. Most weak prompts are missing two of the five.

Reusable template

Role: You are a [role].
Task: [what to do].
Context: [background].
Format: [bullets / table / 3 paragraphs].
Constraints: [length, tone, things to avoid].

Show an example

One good example beats a paragraph of description. Paste a sample of the output you want and ask the model to match it.

Iterate in small steps

Change one thing at a time and keep the winners. A tiny library of proven prompts is worth more than a thousand untested ones.