MEPX
Chapter 1 of 10All chapters
  1. 1What a prompt is doing
  2. 2Giving context
  3. 3Examples
  4. 4Multi-step problems
  5. 5Controlling format
  6. 6Roles and personas
  7. 7Iterating
  8. 8Evaluating prompts
  9. 9Prompt injection
  10. 10Folklore and limits

Chapter 1 of 10

What a prompt is doing

Setting the conditions.

Steering, not commanding

The prompt sets the context the model continues from. You are shifting probabilities towards the kind of output you want, not issuing instructions to a program.

  • The same prompt can give different answers; that is expected behaviour.
  • Everything in the context window influences the result, including earlier turns.

Specification

Most disappointing output comes from an underspecified request. Say who it is for, what it is for, what to include, what to avoid and how long it should be.