How Create Effective Prompts

Creating Effective AI Prompts: Best Practices

Creating effective prompts is essential for getting the best results from AI models. Here’s a comprehensive guide to crafting prompts that yield high-quality, relevant responses.

Core Principles of Effective Prompts

1. Be Clear and Specific

❌ "Make a website"

✅ "Create a responsive landing page for a coffee shop with a menu section, about us, and contact form using Next.js and Tailwind CSS"

2. Provide Context and Constraints

❌ "Write code for a login form"

✅ "Create a React login form with email validation, password requirements, and error handling that matches modern design principles"

3. Structure Your Prompt

Break complex prompts into sections:

TASK: Create a database schema
CONTEXT: E-commerce application with users, products, orders
REQUIREMENTS:
- Must support user profiles with multiple addresses
- Products have categories, inventory tracking
- Order history and status tracking
FORMAT: SQL statements with comments

Some quick tips

• Start with the application architecture, including your choice of tools, frameworks, and so on. (Check Cursor directory)

• Add individual components and features, one by one.

• Add in details in each component with small, specific prompts. Avoid overwhelming the LLM with too many instructions and requirements at once.

• Be explicit about what should and shouldn’t change. You can tell vibe coding tool to change or not change specific files. When possible, refer to specific elements, classes, or functions to guide vibe coding tool to the exact place where you want the changes made.

• Don’t expect the LLM to have common sense.