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What is Prompt?

A plain-English explanation of Prompt (Prompt) — what it means, why it matters, and how it is used in AI.

Prompt
Prompt
A prompt is the input text that a user or developer provides to an AI model to instruct it what to do. The quality and structure of a prompt significantly affects the quality of the model's response.
"Instead of asking "write something about climate change," a better prompt specifies the length, audience, and focus of the response."

Also known as: User prompt, input, query, instruction

Prompt EngineeringContext WindowSystem Prompt

Why does Prompt matter?

Prompts are used in every interaction with a language model — from simple chat queries to complex multi-step instructions.

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Prompt EngineeringContext WindowSystem Prompt