Prompt engineering
Also known as: prompting
Prompt engineering is the practice of writing prompts that reliably get the behavior you want. It’s less “magic words” and more clear structure.
High-leverage techniques:
- Be specific about the task, format, and constraints.
- Show examples (few-shot) of the exact pattern you want.
- Separate roles (system vs. user) and delimit data.
- Ask for the format you need (JSON, list, steps).
The truth: good prompting is 80% clarity and 20% technique. "What do you want, in what shape, with what limits?" beats any incantation.