Glossary
What is prompt engineering?
Writing the instruction so the model does what you meant.
The useful parts are unglamorous: state the task, state the output format, state what to do when the answer is not in the material.
Roleplay preambles matter far less than people expect. Clear constraints and worked examples matter more.
With good context supplied, short instructions usually outperform elaborate ones.
In practice
'Answer only from the pages above; if a page does not cover it, say so' removes most confident guessing.
Common questions
- What does prompt engineering mean in one sentence?
- Writing the instruction so the model does what you meant.
- Why does prompt engineering matter when you use Claude or ChatGPT?
- With good context supplied, short instructions usually outperform elaborate ones.
- Can you give an example of prompt engineering?
- 'Answer only from the pages above; if a page does not cover it, say so' removes most confident guessing.
Related terms
- Context engineeringChoosing and shaping what an AI model sees, rather than rewriting the question.
- GroundingTying an AI answer to specific source material you supplied.
- HallucinationA confident AI answer that is not supported by any real source.
- Glossary indexEvery AI context term, defined in plain language.
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