What is a prompt?
A prompt is the instruction you give the model: the job, the facts, the format, and the things it must not invent.
Also called: prompt engineering
In plain English
A vague prompt gets a vague draft. A useful prompt sounds like a note to a new hire: who it is for, what you already know, and what done looks like. The prompts on this site are fill-in-the-blank versions of that note. Write the prompt the way you would brief a new hire on a sticky note: the job, the facts, the ban, and what done looks like. 'Make it professional' is not a brief. If you keep adding the same correction, that correction belongs in the standing instructions, not in today's message. Save the prompt that worked next to the SOP so the next person does not invent a new one. If the draft misses, change one instruction and rerun the same facts, so you learn which line mattered. Keep a scrap file of prompts that failed so you do not revive them next month. File the loser wording in a drawer marked retired so a helpful coworker cannot paste it back.
How an owner would use it
Write the facts first, then the ask. Say the length. Say what to do if a fact is missing (stop, do not guess). Save the prompt next to the SOP so the next person does not start from zero.
Common mistakes
A prompt full of adjectives ('be world class and detailed') and no facts produces a brochure. Another miss is saving a prompt that still has last week's customer baked in, then reusing it. Write the standing ask once, leave blanks for the facts that change, and say what to do when a blank is empty. Prompt engineering is this, not a secret dialect.
A worked example
A dental office
The reminder with the real time
This is an illustration, not a customer result. The front desk fills the appointment reminder prompt with the patient first name, the time, and the address. The blank for a cancellation fee stays empty, so the text does not invent one.
Related terms
Prompts and guides
Questions owners ask
What is a prompt?
A prompt is the instruction and the facts you hand to an AI model so it can draft a specific piece of work.
How do I write a prompt my staff can reuse?
Name the job, leave blanks for the facts that change, and say what the model must not invent. The prompt library on this site is built that way.
What is prompt chaining, and is it a different term?
Prompt chaining means running several prompts in a row, where the next one reads the previous draft. That is closer to a workflow than to a single prompt. If the steps are stable, draw them as a workflow instead of hiding them in one giant message.
Product guides are on AI apps for business.