Level 1 · Foundations
Prompt Engineering
Level 1, the foundations. Get far better answers out of ChatGPT and Claude, starting from your very first prompts. No coding required.
Updated July 5, 2026
Level 1, the foundations. Get far better answers out of ChatGPT and Claude, starting from your very first prompts. No coding required.
Updated July 5, 2026
This Level 1 guide is for people who have just started using ChatGPT or Claude in the chat box and want better answers without learning technical terms. After reading it, you will know how to ask clearer questions, give useful context, check important answers, and turn common tasks like email, planning, research, and writing into repeatable habits.
Who this is for: You use ChatGPT or Claude in the chat box and want noticeably better answers. No coding needed.
Better prompts come from giving the AI the same basic context you would give a capable assistant: the job, the situation, the boundaries, and a chance to ask what is missing.
Read the deep diveWhen your request has moving parts, stop guessing what to include and make the AI gather the missing context one question at a time.
Read the deep diveBetter AI results come from giving each prompt one clear job, then using the answer from one step as the starting point for the next.
Read the deep diveBetter prompts do not just ask AI to produce work; they ask it to inspect the work, expose weak spots, and say what would make the result safer to trust.
Read the deep diveThe prompts you repeat should become small, editable recipes: clear enough to reuse, flexible enough to adjust, and simple enough to improve after every run.
Read the deep diveUse your strongest model when the work needs judgment, planning, or careful wording, and use cheaper models when the task is clear, routine, or easy to check.
Read the deep dive