> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://vlyai-1c28d863.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Prompting

> The single biggest lever on vly output quality. This section is a complete guide to writing prompts that produce what you actually want — fast, with fewer iterations.

The model that runs your build is impressive. The prompt you give it is *the* variable that decides what you get back. A vague prompt produces a generic, often-wrong result. A specific prompt produces what you imagined.

This section is the **prompting handbook** for vly. Two reads will pay off forever.

## Start here

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Fundamentals" icon="message-square" href="/prompting/fundamentals">
    The mindset, the structure of a good prompt, the three-line opening that works for 80% of changes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The five-layer method" icon="layers" href="/prompting/the-five-layer-method">
    The framework that takes 20 minutes to learn and pays off across every project. Read after Fundamentals.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## When you're stuck

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Structuring prompts" icon="list-tree" href="/prompting/structuring-prompts">
    When the prompt is more than three lines, structure helps. Headers, bullets, examples.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Debugging prompts" icon="bug" href="/prompting/debugging-prompts">
    When the agent gets it wrong, here's how to figure out why and re-prompt cleanly.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Iterating effectively" icon="repeat" href="/prompting/iterating-effectively">
    The mindset for 50 small changes a day without losing momentum.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Common mistakes" icon="triangle-alert" href="/prompting/common-mistakes">
    The ten most common ways prompts go wrong, and how to fix each.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Prompts by app type

The right prompt for a chat app is different from the right prompt for a CRUD app. Examples for the most common shapes:

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="CRUD" icon="table" href="/prompting/by-app-type/crud">
    The bread and butter — a list of things, with create / edit / delete.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Marketplace" icon="shopping-cart" href="/prompting/by-app-type/marketplace">
    Two-sided platforms: buyers, sellers, listings, transactions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Chat" icon="message-circle" href="/prompting/by-app-type/chat">
    Real-time messaging, threads, presence, attachments.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Dashboard" icon="layout-dashboard" href="/prompting/by-app-type/dashboard">
    Metrics, charts, filters, time ranges.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Multiplayer" icon="gamepad-2" href="/prompting/by-app-type/multiplayer">
    Lobbies, real-time state sync, leaderboards.
  </Card>

  <Card title="E-commerce" icon="store" href="/prompting/by-app-type/e-commerce">
    Catalog, cart, checkout, inventory, orders.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Reference

<Card title="Prompt library" icon="library" href="/prompting/prompt-library">
  30+ tested prompt templates organized by use case. Copy, adapt, ship.
</Card>

## The 80/20 rule of vly prompting

If you only remember three things, remember these:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Describe behavior, not implementation">
    "When a user marks a task done, the row fades out and slides up" — not "Use a CSS transition with `opacity: 0` and `translateY: -10px`."
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name your nouns">
    "The `tasks` table" beats "the things". The agent uses your names back to you, and your code stays consistent.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Iterate in small chunks">
    Five small prompts beat one giant one. Easier to roll back, easier to reason about.
  </Step>
</Steps>

That's it. Read [Fundamentals](/prompting/fundamentals) for the deeper version.


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