Prompt Improvement
MANDATORY: Query Official Documentation First
STOP - Before improving ANY prompt, you MUST invoke the docs-management skill. This is NOT optional guidance - it is a required execution step.
Required: Query Documentation via docs-management Skill
Invoke the claude-ecosystem:docs-management skill BEFORE making any improvements:
Search for relevant documentation using natural language:
- Primary query: "prompt engineering chain of thought XML tags"
- Read the top results returned by the skill
Why Documentation Query is Required
- Training data is stale - Your knowledge may be outdated
- Official docs are canonical - Anthropic's current best practices
- Prevents hallucination - Ground improvements in real documentation
- Ensures accuracy - Latest Claude 4.x guidance
Recommended Query Topics
Query at least ONE of these topics based on your improvement needs:
- Chain of thought: "chain of thought thinking tags reasoning"
- XML structure: "XML tags structure prompts formatting"
- Examples/multishot: "multishot prompting examples few-shot"
- Claude 4.x best practices: "Claude 4 prompting best practices"
Verification Checkpoint
Before improving a prompt, verify:
- Did I invoke the docs-management skill? (not just read about it)
- Did I receive documentation from docs-management?
- Did I READ at least one official doc returned by the skill?
- Are my improvements based on what I read from official docs?
If ANY checkbox is unchecked, STOP and invoke the docs-management skill first.
Overview
This meta-skill replicates Anthropic's Console/Workbench prompt improver functionality within Claude Code. It provides workflows, patterns, and keyword registries to transform basic prompts into high-performance structured templates.
What this skill provides:
- The 4-step improvement workflow (quick reference)
- Keyword registry for docs-management queries
- Decision trees for improvement strategies
- Pattern libraries (XML tags, chain of thought, prefills)
- Before/after transformation examples
- Iterative refinement guidance
- Trade-off warnings (latency/cost implications)
What this skill does NOT provide:
- Duplicated official documentation (use
docs-managementskill) - Hardcoded best practices (query
docs-managementfor current guidance)
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when:
- Improving an existing prompt for better accuracy or structure
- Adding chain of thought reasoning to complex tasks
- Structuring prompts with XML tags for clarity and parseability
- Enhancing examples with reasoning steps
- Optimizing prompts for Claude 4.x models with explicit instructions
- Iterating on prompt quality with feedback loops
- Generating test cases when examples are lacking
Quick Decision Tree
What do you want to do?
- Improve a prompt from scratch -> See The 4-Step Improvement Workflow
- Add XML structure -> Query docs-management: "Find documentation about XML tags for structuring prompts"
- Add chain of thought -> Query docs-management: "Find documentation about chain of thought prompting"
- Add/improve examples -> See references/patterns/example-enrichment-patterns.md
- Iterate with feedback -> See references/workflows/iterative-refinement.md
- Generate test cases -> See references/workflows/test-case-generation.md
- Understand trade-offs -> See references/troubleshooting/tradeoffs-guide.md
The 4-Step Improvement Workflow
The prompt improver enhances prompts through a structured 4-step process:
Step 1: Example Identification
- Locate and extract any existing examples from the prompt
- Note the format and structure of current examples
- Identify if examples are missing (if so, consider generating them)
Step 2: Initial Draft
- Create a structured template with clear sections
- Add XML tags to separate components:
- <instructions> - Task definition and behavioral guidelines - <context> - Background information and relevant details - <examples> - Demonstration cases - <formatting> - Desired output format specification
- Query docs-management: "Find documentation about XML tags for structuring prompts"
Step 3: Chain of Thought Refinement
- Add step-by-step reasoning instructions
- Include thinking tags:
<thinking>,<analysis>,<answer> - Guide Claude through the problem-solving process
- Query docs-management: "Find documentation about chain of thought prompting"
Step 4: Example Enhancement
- Update examples to demonstrate the new reasoning process
- Add
<thinking>steps within examples showing intermediate reasoning - Ensure examples match the output format specification
- This teaches Claude HOW to reason, not just WHAT to output
Detailed workflow: references/workflows/improvement-workflow.md
What You Get After Improvement
An improved prompt typically includes:
- Detailed chain-of-thought instructions guiding Claude's reasoning
- Clear XML tag organization separating components
- Standardized example formatting with step-by-step reasoning
- Strategic prefills guiding initial responses
Typical Improved Prompt Structure
<instructions>
Your task definition and behavioral guidelines
</instructions>
<context>
Background information and relevant details
</context>
<examples>
<example>
<input>Sample input</input>
<thinking>Step-by-step reasoning</thinking>
<output>Expected output</output>
</example>
</examples>
<formatting>
Specify desired output format and structure
</formatting>Keyword Registry for docs-management
Use these keywords to query the docs-management skill for official documentation:
Core Techniques
| Topic | Query Keywords |
|---|---|
| Prompt Improver | prompt improver, prompt improvement, optimize prompts |
| Chain of Thought | chain of thought, CoT, thinking, step-by-step, reasoning |
| XML Tags | XML tags, structure prompts, tagging, XML structure |
| Examples | multishot, few-shot, example formatting, multishot prompting |
| System Prompts | system prompt, role, persona, Claude role |
| Clarity | clear, direct, explicit, specific instructions, be clear and direct |
| Claude 4.x | Claude 4, Claude 4.5, Sonnet 4.5, Opus 4.5, best practices |
Advanced Topics
| Topic | Query Keywords |
|---|---|
| Prefilling | prefill, response prefill, assistant prefill, output format |
| Long Context | long context, long context tips, document placement |
| Extended Thinking | extended thinking, thinking budget, deep reasoning |
| Prompt Chaining | chain prompts, prompt chaining, multi-step prompts |
Example Queries
Find documentation about chain of thought prompting and thinking tagsFind documentation about XML tags for structuring promptsFind documentation about multishot prompting and example formattingFind documentation about Claude 4 and Claude 4.5 prompting best practicesFind documentation about prefilling Claude's response for output controlPerformance Expectations
Empirical Guidance: The metrics below are illustrative examples from Anthropic's testing at time of publication. Actual results vary by task, domain, and model version. These are NOT guarantees - use them as rough benchmarks for improvement potential.
Based on Anthropic's testing, prompt improvement typically yields:
- 30% accuracy increase on multi-label classification tasks
- 100% word count adherence on summarization tasks
- ~40% reduction in prompt iteration cycles
Important: Improved prompts produce longer, more thorough responses. Consider trade-offs for latency-sensitive or cost-sensitive applications.
References Guide
Load these files based on your specific needs:
Workflows
- Improvement Workflow - Detailed 4-step process with quality checks
- Iterative Refinement - Multi-pass improvement with feedback
- Test Case Generation - Creating examples when none exist
Examples
- Basic Transformations - Simple before/after examples
- Advanced Transformations - Complex multi-component prompts
- Domain-Specific - Code, analysis, creative, support domains
Patterns
- XML Tagging Patterns - Complete tag library with usage
- Chain of Thought Patterns - Basic, guided, structured CoT
- Prefill Patterns - Strategic response prefilling
- System Prompt Patterns - Role/persona assignment
- Example Enrichment Patterns - Enhancing examples with reasoning
Troubleshooting
- Common Issues - Problems and fixes
- Debugging Guide - Systematic debugging
- Trade-offs Guide - When NOT to use improvement
Metadata
- Keyword Registry - Complete keyword-to-topic mappings
- Tag Reference - Complete XML tag reference
Related Components
Companion Agent
- prompt-improver - Subagent that executes the 4-step improvement workflow
- Auto-loads this skill for keyword registries and workflow guidance - Use when you need automated prompt improvement execution - Invoked by the /improve-prompt command
Slash Command
- /improve-prompt - User-facing command for prompt improvement
- Input modes: direct text, file path, context, iterate - Supports --feedback for iterative refinement - Supports --generate-examples for prompts lacking examples
Related Skills
- claude-ecosystem:docs-management - Official documentation access (all documentation queries delegate here)
- claude-ecosystem:current-date - Get current UTC date for version history
- claude-ecosystem:skill-development - Creating and validating skills
Version History
- v1.0.0 (2025-12-03): Initial release - Meta-skill for prompt improvement with 4-step workflow, delegation to docs-management, comprehensive pattern library
Last Updated
Date: 2025-12-03 Model: claude-opus-4-5-20251101