Prompt Engineering

Pain Signals — You Need This Pattern When:

• Prompts are inline strings in application code, mixed with business logic
• Changing a prompt requires a code deploy
• There is no way to test a prompt in isolation from the application
• The same prompt is copy-pasted across multiple places and drifts over time
• Prompt quality varies because there is no structure or review process
• A single complex prompt is trying to do too many things and failing at all of them

Core Principle

A prompt is an interface contract. It defines what the LLM should do, what it receives, and what it should return. Treat prompts with the same rigor as code: version control, review, regression testing, and separation of concerns.