The Prompt Engineering Cheatsheet

Good prompting isn't a secret incantation. It's a structure you can learn in five minutes and a habit you build over time. Here's the whole mental model on one page.

The anatomy of a strong prompt

• Role — tell the model who to be. "You are a staff engineer who values readability."
• Context — give it the situation and constraints it can't guess. The more specific, the better the output.
• Task — one clear ask. If you need five things, number them.
• Format — say exactly how you want the answer: length, structure, tone, "as a table," "line-level notes only."
• Examples — show one good example of what you want. Examples beat adjectives every time.

Patterns worth memorising

1. Ask before answering — "Before you write anything, ask me the questions you need." Kills vague output instantly.
2. Steelman / red-team — "Argue the strongest case against this." Use it on every decision and draft.
3. Rank, don't dump — "Give me the top 3 ranked by likelihood/impact," not a wall of options.
4. Constrain the scope — "Don't rewrite — give before/after edits." Keeps your voice and your code intact.
5. Make it teach you — "Explain the 20% that covers 80%, and the 3 things people get wrong."

Common fixes

• Output too generic? Add a role and a real constraint. Generic in, generic out.
• Too long or rambly? Specify a word or bullet count and a format.
• Missing your context? Paste the actual code/copy/data — don't describe it.
• Confidently wrong? Ask for its reasoning and the one thing that would change its mind.
• Lost your voice? Ask for edits, not rewrites.

The one-degree move: Anyone can ask a question. The leverage is in the follow-up — "why," "what did you miss," "make it sharper." Treat the first answer as a draft, never the deliverable.

Save the prompts that work into a personal file. Your own tested library beats any list you download — including this one.

📄 Prefer the one-page version? Download the PDF.

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