The Basics

Be Specific

Vague prompts = vague results. Instead of “Write code,” say “Write a TypeScript function that validates email addresses.”

Provide Context

Give background. “We’re building a SaaS app” is better than nothing.

Show Format

Tell the AI exactly how you want output: “Return JSON with fields: id, name, price.”

Advanced Techniques

Chain of Thought

Ask for step-by-step reasoning:

“Think step by step before answering.”

Few-Shot Examples

Show examples of desired output:

“Example: Input: 2+2 Output: 4”

Role Prompting

Assign a persona:

“You are a senior backend engineer with 15 years experience.”

Constraint Setting

Be explicit about limits:

“Provide a solution under 50 lines. Don’t use external libraries.”

Model-Specific Tips

GPT-5

• Great with system prompts
• Excels at following formats
• Good with chain-of-thought

Claude 4

• Best at long context tasks
• Excellent at code review
• Responds well to detailed instructions

Gemini

• Fast, use for simple tasks
• Good at multimodal (images + text)

Common Mistakes

1. Not being specific enough
2. Missing context
3. No output format specified
4. Asking too much at once
5. Not iterating — first attempt usually not best