Prompt engineering basics every developer should know

Good prompts are less about magic words and more about clear specifications.

1. Give context and a role. Say who the answer is for and what it will be used for.
2. Show examples. One or two input/output pairs beat a paragraph of description.
3. Ask for a format. JSON, a table or numbered steps – make it parseable.
4. Break big tasks into steps. Chain smaller prompts instead of one giant one.
5. Test with real inputs. Keep 20–30 examples and re-run them whenever you change the prompt.

Treat a prompt like code: version it, test it and review it.