Prompt
Also known as: prompting
A prompt is the text instruction you give an AI tool describing what you want it to do.
Short answer
A prompt is the instruction you give an AI. The clearer and more specific it is — with context and a defined output — the more useful the response.
- Applies to:
- Every AI tool that takes a text instruction.
In more detail
Everything you type into an AI tool is a prompt: a question, an instruction, or a request with pasted material to work from. The model responds to what you actually wrote, not what you meant, so a vague prompt gets a generic answer. Good prompts supply context (who it's for, your constraints, the tone) and say what the output should look like.
Example
Weak prompt: "Write a product description." Stronger prompt: "Write a 60-word product description for a stainless-steel water bottle aimed at hikers. Emphasize that it keeps drinks cold for 24 hours. Friendly, active voice."
Why it matters
The prompt is the one part of the interaction you control. Learning to write clear prompts is the highest-return skill for getting useful results from any AI tool.
Prompts that use this
Try a prompt for yourself
Open any prompt and run it in the IterPrompt playground.