beginner · 4h · 4 lessons
Prompt Engineering Essentials
Move past 'pretty please' prompts. Learn the techniques that make outputs reliable, structured, and cheap.
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- Write prompts that produce valid JSON 99%+ of the time without parsing errors
- Apply few-shot examples that actually generalize
- Build prompt scaffolds that scale across hundreds of customer use cases
Lessons
LESSON 1
System vs User Prompts
Where you place an instruction matters more than how you word it.
14 min →
LESSON 2
Structured Outputs & JSON Mode
Stop parsing markdown. Use the API features that guarantee valid JSON.
22 min →
LESSON 3
Few-Shot Examples That Actually Work
The right examples teach the model your style. The wrong ones bias it badly.
18 min →
LESSON 4
Chain-of-Thought & Reasoning Models
When to ask the model to 'think step by step' — and when newer reasoning models do it for you.
16 min →