Prompt Engineering

Writing good prompts is the difference between a vague, mediocre response and a precise, powerful one. This guide covers the core principles and practical techniques for each type of prompt that Promptzy supports.

Types of Prompts

Promptzy organizes prompts into four categories, each serving a distinct purpose:

System Prompts

Define who an AI is — its role, personality, tone, and rules. Sent at the start of every conversation.

Task Prompts

Tell an AI what to do — a specific action, request, or workflow to execute.

Image Prompts

Describe what to generate visually — style, subject, lighting, mood, and composition.

Video Prompts

Like image prompts, but with motion, timing, camera movement, and narrative arc.

Core Principles

1. Be Specific

Vague prompts produce vague results. The more detail you give, the better the output.

❌ Vague	✅ Specific
”Write a blog post"	"Write a 600-word blog post about sustainable fashion for eco-conscious Millennials, with a conversational tone and 3 actionable tips"
"A portrait"	"Studio portrait of a woman in her 30s, soft diffused lighting, shallow depth of field, warm golden tones, professional headshot style”

2. Assign a Role

Giving the AI a role dramatically improves the quality and consistency of its responses.

You are a senior UX designer with 10 years of experience building SaaS products.
Your advice is practical, concise, and grounded in real-world constraints.

3. Define the Output Format

If you want a specific structure, say so explicitly.

Respond with a JSON object containing keys: title, summary, tags (array), and difficulty (1-5).

4. Set Constraints

Constraints help the AI stay focused and avoid irrelevant tangents.

- Keep responses under 200 words
- Do not use bullet points
- Avoid technical jargon
- Always provide at least one concrete example

5. Use Examples (Few-Shot Prompting)

Showing the AI an example of what you want is often more effective than describing it.

Here's an example of the tone I want:

Input: "coffee"
Output: "A dark, smoky blend with notes of dark chocolate and cedar — the kind of cup that doesn't apologize for being bold."

Now write a similar description for: "matcha"

6. Iterate and Refine

Your first prompt is rarely your best one. Save working prompts to Promptzy, note what worked, and refine from there.

System Prompt Best Practices

System prompts install a persistent persona into an AI for the entire conversation. A great system prompt answers:

Who are you? → Role and identity
What do you know? → Domain expertise
How do you behave? → Tone, communication style
What are your limits? → What to avoid, what to always do

Template structure:

You are [role] with [expertise].
Your communication style is [tone/style].
You always [positive behaviors].
You never [negative behaviors / things to avoid].
When asked about [topic], you [specific behavior].

Task Prompt Best Practices

Task prompts are one-shot instructions. Structure them like a mini brief:

Context — what situation or background info does the AI need?
Task — what exactly do you need it to do?
Format — how should the output be structured?
Constraints — length, style, tone, what to avoid

Context: I run a small Etsy shop selling hand-painted plant pots.
Task: Write 5 product listing titles for a terracotta pot with a painted succulent design.
Format: Each title should be under 80 characters, include relevant keywords.
Constraints: Must feel warm and artisan, not corporate.

Image Prompt Best Practices

Great image prompts describe the subject, style, lighting, color palette, and mood. Think like a creative director giving a brief to a photographer.

Core elements:

[subject description], [art style / medium], [lighting], [color palette], [mood / atmosphere], [camera / composition details]

Example:

A lone astronaut standing on the surface of Mars at dusk, cinematic photography,
long shadows, burnt orange and deep indigo sky, dust haze in the atmosphere,
wide angle lens, dramatic backlighting, photorealistic, 8K

Useful style keywords:

cinematic, photorealistic, hyperrealistic, film grain
concept art, digital painting, oil painting, watercolor
Studio Ghibli style, anime, pixel art, low poly
soft bokeh, shallow depth of field, wide angle, macro
golden hour, neon-lit, high contrast, moody, ethereal

Video Prompt Best Practices

Video prompts add motion and time to image concepts. Include:

The visual scene (same as image prompts)
Camera movement — pan, zoom, tracking shot, drone flyover
Subject motion — walking, flowing, rotating, flickering
Pacing / duration feel — slow motion, time-lapse, real-time
Audio feel (for models that support it)

Example:

Slow cinematic drone pullback from a campfire in a misty forest at night,
pine trees fading into fog, golden firelight flickering, stars emerging above the treeline,
smooth easing motion, 6 seconds, atmospheric and serene

Prompting for Promptzy’s AI Assistant

When using Promptzy’s built-in AI assistant to generate prompts, give it just enough context:

Specify the type first (System / Task / Image / Video)
Describe the use case or subject briefly
Mention any tone, style, or constraints you want

Example inputs:

A system prompt for a no-nonsense senior software engineer
who gives blunt, practical code review feedback

An image prompt for a magical forest library with glowing bookshelves,
fantasy art style, warm amber light

The AI assistant will expand your brief into a full, production-ready prompt.