Anthropic Prompt Engineering Guide — Official Best Practices

Key Techniques

1. Be Specific and Direct

Bad: "Help me with code" Good: "Write a Python function that takes a list of integers and returns the top 3 most frequent elements. Use type hints and include docstring."

2. Use XML Tags for Structure

<instructions>
Analyze the following code for security vulnerabilities.
Focus on: SQL injection, XSS, authentication bypass.
</instructions>

<code>
{user_code}
</code>

3. Chain of Thought

"Think step by step before answering. First identify the problem, then consider approaches, then implement the best one."

4. Few-Shot Examples

Provide 2-3 input/output examples before the actual task.

5. Role Prompting

"You are a senior security researcher with 15 years of experience in web application penetration testing."

6. Prefilled Responses

Start Claude's response with the format you want.

FAQ

Q: What is Anthropic Prompt Engineering Guide? A: Official prompting guide from Anthropic for Claude. System prompts, chain-of-thought, few-shot, XML tags, tool use, and advanced techniques.

Q: How do I install Anthropic Prompt Engineering Guide? A: Check the Quick Use section above for step-by-step installation instructions. Most assets can be set up in under 2 minutes.