Resources · Prompt guide
OpenAI prompting guide
Official guidance for structuring instructions, adding context and getting more reliable results from GPT models.
What it is
A useful starting point—not another unexplained bookmark.
OpenAI’s prompting guide explains how to give a model clear instructions, relevant context and an expected output shape. It is a useful reference when a prompt works sometimes but is not yet dependable enough for a product.
Useful for
When to use it
- Improving prompts used inside an application
- Separating instructions from user-provided content
- Making outputs easier for software to validate
What you will find
Inside the resource
- Instruction hierarchy
- Prompt structure and context
- Reusable prompt patterns
- Guidance for production API workflows
Quick start
How I would use it
- 01
Write the outcome first
Describe the job, the intended user and what a good answer must contain.
- 02
Add only useful context
Provide facts the model needs and clearly separate them from the instructions.
- 03
Specify the output
Ask for a concrete format, length and required fields so the result can be checked.
- 04
Test difficult examples
Try missing data, conflicting requests and unusual inputs before putting the prompt in front of customers.
Ready?
Continue to OpenAI Developers
Keep exploring
Where to go next
Next step
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