Prompt Engineering Principles

Compact reference for writing effective Claude commands. Apply when creating or reviewing commands.

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Core Principles

Be explicit — "Write 5 bullets, each under 15 words" beats "be concise." Specify exact success criteria.

Structure clearly — Separate Context, Role, Process, Output. Don't mix in prose.

Minimize tokens — Every token costs money and latency. High-signal only. Cut filler, redundancy, verbose examples.

Load just-in-time — Don't dump context upfront. Load principles/guidelines when they apply.

Allow uncertainty — Give permission to say "I don't know" to reduce hallucinations.

One question at a time — Multi-part questions fragment attention.

Perfect examples — Claude 4.x pays close attention to details. Sloppy examples teach sloppy behavior.

Standalone outputs — Documents must be readable without conversation context. But standalone ≠ verbose. Include essentials only.

Avoid over-constraining — "You are a helpful architect" beats "You are a world-renowned expert who never makes mistakes."

No aggressive language — Claude 4.x is instruction-compliant. "CRITICAL: YOU MUST" causes over-triggering. Use normal language.

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Anti-Patterns

Unstructured instructions — Mixing context, constraints, and format in prose.

Aggressive triggers — "CRITICAL!" "MUST!" "NEVER!" cause over-triggering.

Vague constraints — "Be concise" vs "3-5 sentences, under 100 words."

Poor examples — Incomplete, inconsistent, or unrealistic.

Context dumping — Loading everything upfront instead of just-in-time.

Multi-question barrages — Asking 5 things at once instead of one at a time.

Verbose outputs — Generated files become future context. Keep them scannable and token-efficient.

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Command Structure Pattern

## Context
{Date, project state, protocol loads}

## Role
{Who Claude is — architect, reviewer, coach}

## Process
{Step-by-step, numbered phases}

## Output
{Path, format, template}

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Output Template Philosophy

Include:

• Date and identifier
• Status/verdict
• Issues/decisions (bulleted, brief)
• Next actions (if applicable)

Exclude:

• Prose methodology explanations
• Percentage calculations
• Verbose rationales
• Repeated context
• Introductions/acknowledgments