A prompt that consistently gets good results is built from the same small set of components, applied with more or less weight depending on the task:
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| Role / context | Who Claude should act as, and what situation this sits inside |
| The task itself | The specific, unambiguous action being requested |
| Background data | Supporting information, documents, or constraints Claude needs to know |
| Rules & tone | What to avoid, required style, non-negotiable constraints |
| Examples | Sample input/output that anchors what "good" looks like |
| Output format | Structure, length, and shape of the final answer |
Specificity has four dials, not one: audience, desired outcome, format, and length. A vague prompt is usually vague on one or more of these — not simply "too short." The fix for a weak prompt is almost never "add more words"; it's identifying which dial is unset and turning it.
Common misconception to unlearn: more verbose is not the same as more specific. A three-paragraph prompt that never states the audience or the desired format is less specific than a two-sentence prompt that nails both. Specificity is precision on the four dials, not word count.