What is prompt engineering?

Prompt engineering is the practice of structuring requests to AI models to get better, more consistent outputs. It involves using frameworks, formatting, examples, and constraints to guide model behavior.

What are prompt frameworks?

Prompt frameworks (like CRAFT, CO-STAR, APE) are structured templates that guide you through building better prompts. They break down requests into specific components—context, role, examples—to improve consistency and quality.

How does temperature affect AI output?

Temperature controls randomness in AI responses. Lower values (0.0–0.5) produce deterministic, factual outputs. Higher values (0.7–1.0) produce creative, varied responses. Use lower temperatures for structured tasks, higher for creative tasks.

What is chain-of-thought prompting?

Chain-of-thought prompting asks AI models to explain their reasoning step-by-step before answering. This technique significantly improves accuracy on complex, multi-step problems like math and logic puzzles.

How do I choose between zero-shot and few-shot prompting?

Zero-shot works for general tasks without examples. Few-shot (providing 2–5 examples) works better for specific formats, domains, or specialized tasks. Test both to see which gives better results for your use case.