gh-dhruvbaldawa-ccconfigs-essentials/skills/engineering-prompts/SKILL.md

name, description

name	description
engineering-prompts	Engineers effective prompts using systematic methodology. Use when designing prompts for Claude, optimizing existing prompts, or balancing simplicity, cost, and effectiveness. Applies progressive disclosure and empirical validation to prompt development.

Engineering Prompts

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LEVEL 1: QUICKSTART ⚡

5-Step Prompt Creation:

1. Start Clear: Explicit instructions + success criteria
2. Assess Need: Does it need structure? Examples? Reasoning?
3. Add Sparingly: Only techniques that improve outcomes
4. Estimate Cost: Count tokens, identify caching opportunities
5. Test & Iterate: Measure effectiveness, refine based on results

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LEVEL 2: CORE PHILOSOPHY 🎯

The Three Principles

Simplicity First

• Start with minimal prompt
• Add complexity only when empirically justified
• More techniques ≠ better results

Cost Awareness

• Minimize token usage
• Leverage prompt caching (90% savings on repeated content)
• Batch processing for non-urgent work (50% savings)

Effectiveness

• Techniques must improve outcomes for YOUR use case
• Measure impact, don't just apply best practices
• Iterate based on results

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LEVEL 3: THE 9 TECHNIQUES 🛠️

Quick Reference

Technique	When to Use	Cost Impact
1. Clarity	ALWAYS	Minimal, max impact
2. XML Structure	Complex prompts, instruction leakage	~50-100 tokens
3. Chain of Thought	Reasoning, analysis, math	2-3x output tokens
4. Multishot Examples	Pattern learning, format guidance	200-1K tokens each
5. System Role	Domain expertise needed	Minimal (caches well)
6. Prefilling	Strict format requirements	Minimal
7. Long Context	20K+ token inputs	Better accuracy
8. Context Budget	Repeated use, long conversations	90% savings with cache
9. Tool Docs	Function calling, agents	100-500 tokens per tool

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LEVEL 4: DESIGN FRAMEWORK 📋

D - Define Requirements

Questions to Answer:

• Core task?
• Output format?
• Constraints (latency/cost/accuracy)?
• One-off or repeated?

E - Estimate Complexity

Simple:

• Extraction, formatting
• Simple Q&A
• Clear right answer

Medium:

• Analysis with reasoning
• Code generation
• Multi-step but clear

Complex:

• Deep reasoning
• Novel problem-solving
• Research synthesis

S - Start Simple

Minimal Viable Prompt:

1. Clear instruction
2. Success criteria
3. Output format

Test first. Add complexity only if underperforming.

I - Iterate Selectively

Add techniques based on gaps:

• Unclear outputs → More clarity, examples
• Wrong structure → XML tags, prefilling
• Shallow reasoning → Chain of thought
• Pattern misses → Multishot examples

G - Guide on Cost

Cost Optimization:

• Cache system prompts, reference docs (90% savings)
• Batch non-urgent work (50% savings)
• Minimize token usage through clear, concise instructions

N - Note Implementation

Deliverables:

• The optimized prompt
• Techniques applied + rationale
• Techniques skipped + why
• Token estimate
• Caching strategy

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LEVEL 5: ADVANCED TOPICS 🚀

Tool Integration

When to use MCP tools during prompt engineering:

Need latest practices?
└─ mcp__plugin_essentials_perplexity

Complex analysis needed?
└─ mcp__plugin_essentials_sequential-thinking

Need library docs?
└─ mcp__plugin_essentials_context7

Context Management

Prompt Caching:

• Cache: System prompts, reference docs, examples
• Savings: 90% on cached content
• Write: 25% of standard cost
• Read: 10% of standard cost

Long Context Tips:

• Place documents BEFORE queries
• Use XML tags: <document>, <source>
• Ground responses in quotes
• 30% better performance with proper structure

Token Optimization

Reducing Token Usage:

• Concise, clear instructions (no fluff)
• Reuse examples across calls (cache them)
• Structured output reduces back-and-forth
• Tool use instead of long context when possible

Anti-Patterns

❌ Over-engineering - All 9 techniques for simple task ❌ Premature optimization - Complexity before testing simple ❌ Vague instructions - "Analyze this" without specifics ❌ No examples - Expecting format inference ❌ Missing structure - Long prompts without XML ❌ Ignoring caching - Not leveraging repeated content

Stop here if: You need advanced implementation details

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LEVEL 6: REFERENCES 📚

Deep Dive Documentation

Detailed Technique Catalog:

• reference/technique-catalog.md - Each technique explained with examples, token costs, combination strategies

Real-World Examples:

• reference/examples.md - Before/after pairs for coding, analysis, extraction, agent tasks

Research Papers:

• reference/research.md - Latest Anthropic research, benchmarks, best practices evolution