prompt-engineering

name	prompt-engineering
description	Create, update, or review an LLM prompt — system prompt, skill, or agent. State the goal, trust the model, add only what closes a real gap in natural behavior. Use when writing, updating, reviewing, or diagnosing a prompt. Triggers: write a prompt, update a prompt, review a prompt, diagnose prompt failure, system prompt, skill, agent.
argument-hint	<request>
user-invocable	true

A prompt earns its place where natural model behavior misses what's needed. State the goal and the expected outcome; trust the model for everything else. Lines belong only when they close a real gap — observed gotchas, non-obvious behavior, knowledge the model doesn't have, or edge cases it gets wrong by default. Length follows the gap, not a number. On update, calibrate both directions: add what closes the new gap, and prune what no longer earns its place. A prompt stays in balance over time; it doesn't accrete.

Branch on intent. Creating: discover the goal, audience, and the specific gap; draft the minimum that closes it. Updating: find each existing line's gap before changing anything around it — patches that replace often beat patches that add. Reviewing: of each line ask "would the model do this without it?" — flag the no's. Diagnosing a failing prompt: see references/metaprompting.md — find the line driving the symptom before patching.

References load on demand. Load only the ones whose trigger fires:

• references/system-prompts.md — when writing a system prompt that ships in a deployment loop and warrants section structure (real degradation paths, real constraints, real stop conditions).
• references/skills.md — when writing a skill (anything in a SKILL.md + references/ folder layout that activates a behavior).
• references/knowledge-skills.md — when writing a skill whose gap is data the model lacks rather than behavior it gets wrong (API references, schema lookups, internal conventions).
• references/agents.md — when writing an agent (anything that runs in isolation with its own declared tool set).
• references/patterns.md — when filling a non-trivial section in any prompt type and a known technique fits the gap (verification, narrate-execute-confirm, tool-call escalation, output contracts, ambiguity handling, high-risk self-check, decision rules over absolutes, emotional tone).
• references/review.md — when reviewing or updating an existing prompt.
• references/metaprompting.md — when diagnosing a failing prompt against logged traces.