Structuring prompts

When and how to structure longer prompts with headers, bullets, and examples.

Three lines? Plain prose. More than five? Structure helps.

When to structure

• The prompt has multiple parts (goal + constraints + examples).
• The change touches multiple areas (schema + UI + integration).
• You want to reuse the prompt as a template.

Useful structure patterns

Five-layer

See The five-layer method.

Bullet checklist

For “do all of these” prompts:

Add a settings page with:
- Profile section (name, avatar)
- Email section (with verification)
- Password section
- Danger zone (delete account)

Before / after

For changes to existing behavior:

Before: Tasks are sorted by creation date.
After: Tasks are sorted by due date ascending, with overdue at the top in red.

Example-driven

For tricky prompts:

Pluralize the unit label based on count:
"1 task" / "2 tasks" / "0 tasks"
Use the helper from i18n/plural.ts.

Tips

Headers help the agent parse. **Goal**:, **Constraints**:, etc. read more reliably than long paragraphs.

Related

Five-layer method

The framework.

Fundamentals

The basics.

Prompt library

Templates.