Prompt
The text input you send to an AI model: question, instruction, or context that produces a response.
- Combines system prompt, user content, optional context.
- Most AI failures are prompt failures, not model failures.
- Specific prompts with examples outperform vague ones.
When to use: Every interaction with an AI tool; quality compounds across runs.
Example: Vague: "Make this faster." Better: "Profile this function. List 3 hot spots with line numbers, then fix preserving tests."