Prompting Basics
How to write good prompts. Learn to communicate effectively with AI for better results in your daily work.
A prompt is your instruction to MomentumAI. Good prompts tell it who to be, what to do, what to use, and how to present it.
The four building blocks
| Element | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Persona | Gives the model a role or point of view. | "You are a communications officer in a Dutch municipality." |
| Task | Says what you want. | "Rewrite this announcement for residents." |
| Context | Adds background or files so the model doesn't guess. | "This is about a road closure in April. Use the attached PDF." |
| Format | Defines the shape/tone of the answer. | "Give me 1 short version (120 words) and 1 long version." |
You don't have to use all four every time – but 2–3 of them already improve quality a lot.
Persona: You are a communications officer in a Dutch municipality.
Task: Rewrite this announcement for residents.
Context: It concerns a road closure in April. Use the information from the attached PDF.
Format: Provide 1 short version (max 120 words) and 1 longer version.Example prompt
Write something like this:
You are an internal AI assistant helping project managers. Task: turn the notes below into a status update for stakeholders. Context: this is for a construction/renovation project in Hamburg; keep dates and names. Format: output 1) an email-ready text and 2) 3 bullet points for Teams.
This is clear, safe, and produces something a colleague can reuse.
Make AI tell you when it's unsure
To reduce "it lied to me" situations, add lines like:
- If information is missing, ask me first.
- If the source isn't clear, say "source unclear".
- List any assumptions you made.
That way you immediately see where the model had to guess.
Further reading & advanced guides
If you want to explore prompt engineering and AI fundamentals in more depth, here are a few trusted external resources:
- Intro to LLMs – Andrej Karpathy (YouTube) – a visual, high-level talk ideal for curious creators.
- DAIR.AI – Prompt Engineering Guide – a community-driven resource explaining prompt design fundamentals, best practices, and practical examples for getting reliable results.
These links are external resources. You don’t need them to use MomentumAI effectively – they’re here if you’d like to dive deeper into how modern AI models and prompting work.