Writing good prompts: six building blocks
A good prompt is a clear work instruction. These six building blocks are in every one of our prompts, and you can use them for your own prompts too.
The six building blocks
- Task Say in one sentence what should be produced: “Write an email …”, “Create a table …”.
- Context Who is the result for, what is it for, what do you already know? Without context the AI guesses.
- Material Paste the text, notes or data to work with. Separate them visibly from the instruction, e.g. with “Text:”.
- Format Set length, structure and form: bullet points, a table, no more than 150 words.
- Limits What must not happen? “Do not invent numbers”, “no real people”, “mark anything uncertain”.
- Check Ask for versions or follow-up questions and check the result yourself, especially facts, names and numbers.
Limits of AI answers
AI models can make mistakes that sound convincing. For tax, legal, financial and health questions they do not replace professional advice. Our prompts are templates; the result depends on the tool, the model and what you enter.
You may use our prompts freely, including at work. Please do not republish them as your own collection. We give no warranty for AI results; check them yourself. Terms of use