Prompt Engineering

Prompt engineering is the skill of writing effective instructions for large language models (LLMs) to generate accurate, useful outputs. In software development, prompt engineering determines the quality of AI-generated code — vague prompts produce vague code, while specific prompts that include constraints, edge cases, and architectural context produce significantly better results. Skilled prompt engineers break complex features into small, testable chunks and provide the AI with relevant context about the existing codebase. However, even excellent prompts can't replace the engineering judgment needed to evaluate whether AI output is production-ready.