prompt

Definition

The input text handed to a model: instructions, context, examples, format specifications. Prompting is the cheapest control surface available, since it changes behaviour without touching a single weight, which is why so much practical work happens here. The trade-off is fragility — small rewordings can shift results measurably, so prompt-based claims need fixed, published prompts to be reproducible. A system prompt is the developer-fixed preamble.

Explainers using this term

• Paper Walkthrough: SecOPD — Grading One Token at a Time to Cut Adaptive Prompt Injection by an Order of MagnitudeSecOPD: Mitigating Adaptive Prompt Injections by On-Policy Distillation
• LLM Security — Prompt Injection and How to Actually Defend Against ItNot What You've Signed Up For: Compromising Real-World LLM-Integrated Applications with Indirect Prompt Injection