Steal This Workflow · video notes

The 4-piece prompt checklist

From the Hourwiz video “Your ChatGPT prompt is broken” · Checked 8 October 2026

A good prompt isn't longer. It's complete. Before you hit send, check it has these four pieces. OpenAI, Anthropic and Google's prompting guides point to the same ones (our summary of the three guides, not a list any of them publishes word for word).

The checklist

  1. ROLE: who's writing, and who it's for. Anthropic's guide: “Setting a role in the system prompt focuses Claude's behavior and tone for your use case. Even a single sentence makes a difference.” Google's guide calls this piece “Persona”.
  2. CONTEXT: the background the AI can't know. Names, numbers, history, and what you want to happen. Google's guide: “Provide as much context as possible.”
  3. EXAMPLE: paste a line you wrote. Anthropic's guide: “Examples are one of the most reliable ways to steer Claude's output format, tone, and structure.”
  4. FORMAT: the shape of the answer. Subject line, bullets, length, one clear ask. Anthropic's guide: “Be specific about the desired output format and constraints.”

You don't need all four every time. Google's guide says: “You don't need to use all four in every prompt, but using a few will help!”

Download the checklist (.md)

The example from the video

Example we wrote. The client, invoice and amount are fictional. We show the prompts, not a scored test.

Before

Write an email to my client about the invoice.

After (line 1 = ROLE, line 2 = CONTEXT, line 3 = EXAMPLE, line 4 = FORMAT)

You're a freelance brand designer writing to a long-term client.
Context: invoice #1042 for €850 was due 14 days ago. They've always paid on time, and I want to keep the relationship warm.
Match the tone of this line I wrote before: "Hope the launch went well! Quick admin note from my side."
Format: subject line first, under 90 words, one clear ask (pay by Friday or tell me a date), no apologies.

The “before” prompt can't produce the invoice number or the deadline, because it never mentions them. That's the point: the AI can't know what you didn't tell it.

Read the guides yourself

Google's developer guide, Gemini API prompt design strategies, also covers examples and formats.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these pages, opened on 8 October 2026. Things change: check the live page before you rely on it.

  1. Anthropic, “Prompting best practices” (Claude docs) Role, context, examples, format quotes.
  2. OpenAI, “Prompt engineering” (API docs) Identity, context and few-shot examples.
  3. Google Workspace, “Writing effective prompts” Persona, task, context, format; “you don't need to use all four”.
  4. Google, Gemini API “Prompt design strategies” Few-shot examples and response formats.

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