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1. Prompt Engineering Template

1. Purpose

This template helps build high-quality System Prompts. A well-structured prompt reduces hallucinations and increases reliability.

Download this template

Download as Markdown — Open in your editor or AI assistant and fill in the fields.

2. Structure of a Top Prompt

Context (The Background)

  • Who are you? [E.g. "You are a senior data analyst at a telecoms company."]
  • What is the situation? [E.g. "You are analysing customer data to find patterns in cancellations."]

Task (The Action)

  • What needs to happen? [E.g. "Summarise the top 3 reasons for churn based on the attached transcripts."]
  • Use active verbs! (Summarise, Classify, Generate).

System Prompts (Knowledge & Rules)

  • Knowledge source: [E.g. "Use only the information from the attached PDF."]
  • Step-by-step approach: [E.g. "Step 1: Scan for keywords. Step 2: Check sentiment. Step 3: Formulate advice."]

Hard Boundaries (Constraints)

  • What is ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED? [E.g. "Never mention individual employee names."]
  • Limits: [E.g. "Limit your response to a maximum of 200 words."]

Output Format (The Form)

  • What should it look like? [E.g. "A numbered list in Markdown", "A JSON object", "A table"].
  • Tone: [E.g. "Professional and concise", "Friendly and empathetic"].

3. Examples (Few-Shot)

Add 2-3 examples of Input ↔ Desired Output here to guide the AI.

4. Version Control (Prompt Versioning)

Prompts are production code. Manage them like code: version, changelog and rollback.

Semantic versioning

Change Version bump Example
New Hard Boundary or task change Major (X.0.0) v1.0.0 → v2.0.0
Tone, context or few-shot adjustment Minor (x.Y.0) v1.0.0 → v1.1.0
Spelling/style correction without behaviour change Patch (x.y.Z) v1.0.0 → v1.0.1

Prompt Changelog

Version Date Changed by Description Tested on Golden Set
v1.0.0 [date] [name] Initial version ☐ Yes / ☐ No
v1.1.0 [date] [name] [description] ☐ Yes / ☐ No

Rollback Procedure

  1. Revert to the previous prompt version in Git.
  2. Re-run the Golden Set to confirm regression.
  3. Document the regression in the Kaizen Log.
  4. Inform the Guardian when changes affect Hard Boundaries.

Store all versions in Git with a tag per major version: prompt-v1.0.0.