How to prompt Claude: The complete guide

Artificial intelligence (AI) is only as effective as the prompts it’s given. That makes optimizing your prompt engineering skills essential to getting the best possible results. If you prefer to use Claude AI by Anthropic, it’s important to note that learning how to prompt Claude will be different from using other AI models.

Claude specializes in depth, understanding, and ethics. For that reason, Claude prompt engineering uses a unique training model that relies on users to provide specificity and detail to generate strong results.

In this guide, we break down the methods and tips you need to know when crafting effective Claude prompts. You’ll discover strategic considerations and common struggles so that you can get more out of Claude in your everyday workflows.

Understanding Claude AI: What makes it different?

Unlike other AI systems, Claude AI’s training model is based on a concept known as constitutional AI. Constitutional AI is a training method for AI models, especially large language models, which lays out a set of rules and guidelines designed to better align with human values. Claude, in particular, uses a constitution based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights, trust and safety best practices, and other ethical guidelines.

These rules are in place to generate answers that are considered helpful, honest, and harmless. Using its constitution, Claude AI models can self-critique their responses. This reduces the need for extensive human oversight during training and automates response refinement over time.

Claude prompt engineering must therefore be clear and aligned with Claude’s constitution to generate content that’s both helpful and avoids harmful use, such as biased or offensive content. Other models, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, may offer a broader range of prompts and responses, but their answers can be influenced by online bias and lack Claude’s in-depth analysis. 

These differences make Claude an ideal model for things like

• Long-context understanding
• Nuanced analysis
• Code generation
• In-depth writing
• Complex problem solving

Like many other AI models, there are multiple iterations of this technology. Anthropic currently offers three core versions of Claude, including

• Claude Opus: The most powerful of the three versions, Claude Opus is used for complex tasks and reasoning.
• Claude Sonnet: Sonnet is the middle option, focused on balance. It offers a mix of speed and complexity, which is often best suited for enterprise applications.
• Claude Haiku: This streamlined model is all about speed. Haiku is a compact model that’s designed to produce quick responses, though it sacrifices a high level of capabilities. 

Now that you’re aware of the nuances of the Claude AI system, you can understand why it’s important to know exactly what prompts will and won’t be effective. The right prompts ultimately make this tool more useful because of its foundation in constitutional AI.

The building blocks of effective Claude prompting

When crafting the ideal Claude prompt, we recommend considering a few key factors. Using these guidelines, you can form effective prompts that produce optimal results.

• Clarity and directness: Specificity is key with Claude. Being clear about what exactly you’re looking for will help guide your AI model to the correct answer. Rather than “write me a blog post,” try specifying the length, tone, and topic.
• Context: Offer Claude any relevant information necessary to guide its generation. Details such as desired outcome, background, and any exact needs are essential for getting the response you want.
• Structured communication: Claude is designed to think like a human, so consider how you would approach the same task with a colleague. Offer a clear, logical explanation for what you’re asking. And if a prompt seems too confusing, split it into individual steps using a prompt chaining framework.

These principles can lay the groundwork for a strong approach to Claude prompt engineering. By breaking down how to build a single Claude prompt, you’ll better understand how to apply these tactics to other prompts in real time.

Step-by-step guide to prompting Claude

Just like with any conversation, the way you phrase a question or command is essential to its outcome. Building a Claude prompt is no different. Follow these steps to ensure yours is well received by your AI model and produces the results you not only want, but expect from an advanced solution like Claude.

1. Structure your prompt 

The way your prompt is presented will determine how Claude approaches its answer. High-level, vague prompts require Claude to do much of the heavy lifting and could lead to results that don’t align with your expectations.

To keep Claude on track, focus on specificity and structure. If you have a large task, separate it into smaller tasks. Claude will have an easier time handling multiple smaller tasks accurately than one large task with many moving parts. 

For a more advanced method of prompting Claude, you can include XML tags like <text>, <examples>, or <instructions> to more clearly label and organize data in a language that’s easier for the AI model to understand.

2. Provide clear context and role assignment

Including what may seem like extra information can be the key to effective Claude prompt engineering. Background information offers a perspective that can be useful for Claude as it builds out responses.

For example, when asking Claude to write something, clarify who’s doing the writing. A creative writer may approach a blog differently than a technical writer, making this distinction a particularly important factor in your final result.

3. Use examples and demonstrations

Just like a real human being, having access to examples of similar work can streamline the learning process and produce better results from your Claude prompt. The use of examples becomes increasingly important the more complex your task is.

Consider including examples of both inputs and outputs so that Claude can better understand your expectations and craft responses to match. The more examples you provide, the more likely Claude is to match your needs.

4. Optimize output format and style

Creating a consistent output format and style may take some intervention on your end. While Claude will naturally refine its results over time, you can accelerate this process by defining your desired output style using JSON, XML, or custom templates. 

This level of specificity can help Claude understand every element of your desired outputs — and help you avoid frustrating mishaps.

Common Claude prompting mistakes and how to avoid them

Once you get familiar with how to prompt Claude, you can expand the possibilities of its use. However, be careful not to fall victim to some of the most common prompting mistakes that could cause you to waste your time and effort.

Vague prompt 

The problem: Your Claude prompt lacks sufficient detail, forcing Claude to produce results that either fail to meet your needs or are ineffective. This results in wasted effort, lackluster outcomes, and rushed timelines.

The solution: Provide Claude with as much detail as possible about what exactly you’re looking for. Instead of asking it to write a social post about a new product, consider including further information on the channels where it should be shared, your target audience, and any other relevant information. Claude can use the additional guidance you provide to refine its results.

Information overload

The problem: You’ve asked Claude to do too many tasks at once. Whether it be a large task with a multitude of moving parts or a string of tasks all meant to be done together, Claude will struggle to produce optimal results when overloaded. The output will likely be vague and low quality. Either your large task will be done to an incomplete degree, or all of your small tasks will be done ineffectively in an attempt to complete them all at once.

The solution: Focus your efforts on single, manageable tasks. Consider a Claude prompt engineering strategy that breaks down large tasks into a series of sequential steps. By allowing Claude to focus on one task at a time, you can more effectively produce quality results.

Lack of context

The problem: Claude can’t read your mind — it can only create outputs based on the information you provide. While it can come to some conclusions on its own, leaving out essential guidelines can result in outcomes that don’t align with your intended voice, tone, or style.

The solution: Give Claude a clear picture of what you’re looking for in an output. Whether that be writing style, length, intended audience, or otherwise, all of this information can transform a generic result into a refined masterpiece. If you’re looking for Claude to create something similar to another sample, provide the relevant example pieces or demonstrations as inspiration.

Ignoring Claude’s limitations

The problem: Although Claude may seem capable of anything, this solution has its limits — even in comparison to other AI models like ChatGPT. If you ask Claude to perform tasks it’s incapable of doing, such as real-time web browsing or testing code, you may be met with results that are both suboptimal and frustrating.

The solution: Read up on what Claude is best used for and how the system works overall. Understanding limitations such as token limits, knowledge cutoffs, and safety constraints can help you better navigate its use. To get the most out of Claude, you must work within the boundaries of its limitations and find other ways to complete the kind of tasks it’s not best equipped for.

Knowing how to avoid these issues is key to effective Claude prompt engineering. But even the best prompt writers slip up every once in a while. Want some extra help? Consider adding a smart companion to your toolbox to help you stay on track when crafting a Claude prompt.

Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator: The smart solution

Looking to enhance your Claude prompt engineering skills? Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator makes crafting the perfect prompt simple. With its three-step prompt enhancement process, this tool transforms even the simplest of Claude prompts into an input that receives optimal results.

Adding this solution to your workflow can save you time and effort, addressing some of the key limitations of manual prompting like

• Time-intensiveness: Crafting perfect Claude prompts by hand can take hours, especially when you factor in the refinement process.
• Expertise barrier: You can only craft a prompt as good as your experience. Without the proper understanding of Claude’s AI model, you could end up with subpar results.
• Inconsistency: Manual prompts can be affected by how you personally phrase, approach, and frame requests. Even the slightest changes could lead to variability in similar prompts.
• Scalability issues: As your AI needs grow, it can be challenging to keep up with demand while ensuring quality when prompting manually.

Through automation and flexibility, Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator bypasses these limitations to provide you with quality AI prompt examples that can be used to your advantage.

Key advantages over manual prompting

Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator offers users plenty of benefits they simply can’t access through manual prompting, including

• Superior efficiency: Using a generator allows you to create optimized inputs in a matter of seconds, compared to the hours spent on trial and error when trying to build the perfect prompt manually.
• Enhanced quality: Rather than relying on testing and refinement, a generator can instantly apply prompt best practices to every prompt you create. Generators are also designed for consistency, reducing variability in your prompt quality, structure, and clarity from team to team and user to user.
• Scalability: Prompt generators can be used by anyone across your organization to create consistently expert-level prompts. This expands your flexibility, empowers your team, and enables them to access the AI platforms that work best for each scenario.

But how do you tap into these benefits? Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator makes crafting the perfect prompt possible in a matter of minutes.

How Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator works

Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator is easy to get to grips with. All you have to do is follow these quick steps, and you too can create your own optimized Claude prompts:

1. Choose your preferred AI platform, whether that be Claude, ChatGPT, or another solution.
2. Choose your preferred model from inside that platform.
3. Input your idea, including a simple description of the output you wish to create.

Using these steps, you can automatically generate enhanced prompts that feature the ideal structure and context for your preferred AI model — prompts that are made even more effective thanks to the generator’s advanced capabilities.

Advanced features

To take your prompts to the next level, Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator offers a variety of advanced tools meant to give you an extra layer of control over the inputs you generate. These include

• Topic specification: Frame your prompt through the lens of a specific topic, role, or industry to generate prompts that best match your intentions.
• Platform optimization: Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator automatically applies best practices based on your chosen AI platform and model to ensure your prompt is processed correctly.
• Editing capabilities: Once your prompt is generated, you can make any tweaks you see fit. Adjust your prompts to better fit your needs, only keeping what’s most useful.
• Multilingual support: Although limited by your chosen AI model’s interpretive capabilities, Jotform’s generator can provide you with prompts in a range of different languages.

Leveraging these advanced capabilities allows you to customize your generated results further, combining your own Claude prompt engineering skills with the efficiency of an automated tool.

Optimize your Claude prompting with Jotform

For increased quality, consistency, speed, and accuracy, add Jotform’s AI Prompt Generator to your processes.

Did we mention that it’s completely free to use? Give it a try today.