---
name: prompt-creation
description: "Use when writing a new system prompt from scratch, structuring it with Anthropic's 9-element format, or choosing emphasis levels and few-shot examples."
allowed-tools: Read, Write
---

<objective>
Prompt Creation covers Anthropic's official 9-element system-prompt structure (task context, tone, task description + rules, few-shot examples, input data, immediate task, precognition/scratchpad, output formatting, prefill) and the 6-level emphasis scale from "Please do X" up to "CRITICAL - ZERO TOLERANCE". It also covers the 8-step creation workflow from defining the objective through iterating after mental edge-case testing.

For RAG/retrieval-augmented prompts specifically, see `rag-patterns.md`; for prompts combining images with text (vision, screenshot-to-code, diagram understanding), see `multimodal-prompting.md`.
</objective>

# Prompt Creation

Skill for creating high-performance prompts following 2025 best practices and Anthropic conventions.

## Documentation

- [techniques.md](docs/techniques.md) - Structuring techniques (CoT, Few-shot, etc.)
- [templates.md](docs/templates.md) - Reusable templates
- [rag-patterns.md](references/rag-patterns.md) - Load when: designing a RAG/retrieval-augmented prompt (chunking strategy, context assembly, citation injection, hallucination prevention)
- [multimodal-prompting.md](references/multimodal-prompting.md) - Load when: writing a prompt that combines images/screenshots/diagrams with text (vision+text, screenshot-to-code, diagram understanding)

## Anthropic Official Structure (9 Elements)

Each system prompt should cover these 9 aspects:

### 1. Task Context
```markdown
# Task Context
You are an expert [ROLE] specializing in [DOMAIN].
Your goal is to [PRIMARY_OBJECTIVE].
```

### 2. Tone Context
```markdown
# Tone
- Tone: [formal/casual/technical/friendly]
- Length: [concise/detailed/adaptive]
- Format: [prose/lists/tables/mixed]
```

### 3. Task Description + Rules
```markdown
# Task Description
Here are important rules:
- Always [MANDATORY_BEHAVIOR]
- Never [FORBIDDEN_BEHAVIOR]
- If [CONDITION] then [ACTION]

If unsure, say "I don't have enough information to answer."
```

### 4. Examples (Few-shot)
```markdown
# Examples

<example>
Input: [STANDARD_CASE_INPUT]
Output: [EXPECTED_OUTPUT]
</example>

<example>
Input: [EDGE_CASE_INPUT]
Output: [EXPECTED_OUTPUT]
</example>
```

### 5. Input Data
```markdown
# Input Data
<document>
[USER_PROVIDED_CONTENT]
</document>
```

### 6. Immediate Task
```markdown
# Immediate Task
Now, [SPECIFIC_ACTION] the above [document/code/data].
```

### 7. Precognition (Scratchpad)
```markdown
# Precognition
First, in <scratchpad> tags, analyze the key points.
Then provide your final answer in <answer> tags.
```

### 8. Output Formatting
```markdown
# Output Format

## Analysis
[Problem understanding]

## Solution
[Main response]

## Recommendations
[Additional suggestions]
```

### 9. Prefill (Assistant Turn)
```markdown
# Prefill
<scratchpad>
```

## Emphasis Techniques

In order of increasing effectiveness:

| Level | Syntax | Usage |
|-------|--------|-------|
| 1 | `Please do X` | Suggestion |
| 2 | `You should do X` | Recommendation |
| 3 | `Always do X` | Standard rule |
| 4 | `YOU MUST do X` | Strong rule |
| 5 | `IMPORTANT: Do X` | Critical rule |
| 6 | `CRITICAL - ZERO TOLERANCE: Do X` | Absolute rule |

## Creation Workflow

```
1. DEFINE the objective (1 sentence)
   ↓
2. IDENTIFY target audience
   ↓
3. LIST constraints
   ↓
4. CHOOSE techniques (CoT? Few-shot?)
   ↓
5. WRITE with 9-element structure
   ↓
6. ADD guardrails
   ↓
7. TEST mentally (edge cases)
   ↓
8. ITERATE if necessary
```

## Forbidden

- Never create prompts without clear objective
- Never write ambiguous instructions
- Never forget error cases
- Never ignore target model context


---
Source attribution: fusengine
Original project: https://github.com/fusengine/agents/blob/755db24bb95882ae4a17b1ada5c8bfa49af394ee/plugins/prompt-engineer/skills/prompt-creation/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

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Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
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# Dave AI resource metadata

Creator / publisher: fusengine
Original project: https://github.com/fusengine/agents/blob/755db24bb95882ae4a17b1ada5c8bfa49af394ee/plugins/prompt-engineer/skills/prompt-creation/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Recovered original package and original project license at a pinned revision

Fields of work: Content & Media, Design, Development & Engineering
Roles: ML / AI Engineer, Technical Writer, UX Writer
Specialties: API
Tools: Tool not specified
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: eebd21a35ee22551ea964e54ce0021914566762e29c62a745d5dc7e8d650ad7e
Metadata reviewed: 2026-10-27
This metadata supersedes earlier Dave AI catalog attribution. Original instruction and supporting files are preserved.