Writing Prompts

Scope: covers universal prompt engineering for any LLM. For Claude Code agent prompts specifically, see [[writing-agents]]. For Claude Code rules, see [[writing-rules]].

1. The Five Layers

Every effective prompt has five layers, in order. Missing a layer degrades output quality predictably.

1. Role       → WHO the AI is
2. Context    → WHAT it's working with
3. Task       → WHAT to do
4. Constraints → WHAT NOT to do
5. Output     → HOW to format the result

Layer Impact on Output Quality