ALLMAcademy

S1

One Request: Instructions, Examples, Constraints

12 min2 optional deep dives

Build a single model request that is clear, testable, and no more complicated than necessary.

  1. 01Write instructions that define the task, boundaries, and audience
  2. 02Use examples when rules are easier to show than describe
  3. 03Turn vague quality words into observable checks

A practical prompt contract

worked example

A useful request answers 5 questions:

  1. Task — What should the model do?
  2. Input — What material should it use?
  3. Boundaries — What must it avoid or refuse?
  4. Output — What should the response contain?
  5. Success test — How will you know it worked?

Replace adjectives with checks

“Be accurate, helpful, and concise” sounds clear but is hard to test.

Prefer:

Use only facts in the incident log. Write 3 bullets under 18 words each. Include customer impact, time to recovery, and the next action. If a fact is missing, write “unknown.”

Now you can check grounding, shape, length, and missing-data behavior.

Use examples to show a pattern

Examples are useful when the rule has exceptions or a domain-specific style.

Input

Service returned 503 for 7 minutes. 14% of requests failed. Cache restart restored traffic.

Output

  • Checkout requests failed for 7 minutes.
  • 14% of requests returned errors.
  • Restarting the cache restored service.

The example teaches structure and tone without a page of abstract instructions.

Common MisconceptionA longer prompt is automatically more precise.

CorrectionLong prompts often repeat or conflict. Precision comes from observable constraints and representative examples.

Deep dive: Reasoning instructions

Reasoning prompts can improve some multi-step tasks, but they are not a universal upgrade. Evaluate the final task outcome, latency, and cost. When the reasoning itself is sensitive, ask for a concise justification or structured evidence rather than exposing unrestricted internal reasoning.

References & deeper reading (2)

Retrieval Practice

Check one idea at a time

Question 1 of 3

Which instruction is easiest to evaluate?