Prompt
The written instructions you give an AI model, which decide what it does and how well.
What it is
A prompt is the text an AI model receives: the task, the context, the tone, and the format you want back. Better prompts get better results, from both the coding agent building your app and the AI features inside it.
Good prompts are specific about the goal, give relevant context and examples, say what to avoid, and describe the output shape ("return a title under 60 characters and three bullet points").
A system prompt is the standing set of instructions an AI feature always runs with, as opposed to what a user types each time.
How to ask for it
“Use AI to write the product descriptions.”
“Generate each product description with this prompt: "Write a 2-sentence description for {name} for busy parents. Mention {key feature}. Friendly, no exclamation marks, no emojis." Return plain text under 280 characters.”
"Use AI to write" leaves tone, length, and audience to chance; spelling out the prompt makes the output predictable.
You've seen this in
- WWhat you type into ChatGPT
- IInstructions behind a support chatbot
- YYour requests to a coding agent