Prompt Engineering Guide

Master prompt engineering for AI models via inference.sh CLI.

Quick Start

curl -fsSL https://cli.inference.sh | sh && infsh login

# Well-structured LLM prompt
infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "You are a senior software engineer. Review this code for security vulnerabilities:\n\n```python\nuser_input = request.args.get(\"query\")\nresult = db.execute(f\"SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = {user_input}\")\n```\n\nProvide specific issues and fixes."
}'

> Install note: The install script only detects your OS/architecture, downloads the matching binary from dist.inference.sh, and verifies its SHA-256 checksum. No elevated permissions or background processes. Manual install & verification available.

LLM Prompting

Basic Structure

[Role/Context] + [Task] + [Constraints] + [Output Format]

Role Prompting

infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "You are an expert data scientist with 15 years of experience in machine learning. Explain gradient descent to a beginner, using simple analogies."
}'

Task Clarity

# Bad: vague
"Help me with my code"

# Good: specific
"Debug this Python function that should return the sum of even numbers from a list, but returns 0 for all inputs:

def sum_evens(numbers):
    total = 0
    for n in numbers:
        if n % 2 == 0:
            total += n
        return total

Identify the bug and provide the corrected code."

Chain-of-Thought

infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "Solve this step by step:\n\nA store sells apples for $2 each and oranges for $3 each. If someone buys 5 fruits and spends $12, how many of each fruit did they buy?\n\nThink through this step by step before giving the final answer."
}'

Few-Shot Examples

infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "Convert these sentences to formal business English:\n\nExample 1:\nInput: gonna send u the report tmrw\nOutput: I will send you the report tomorrow.\n\nExample 2:\nInput: cant make the meeting, something came up\nOutput: I apologize, but I will be unable to attend the meeting due to an unforeseen circumstance.\n\nNow convert:\nInput: hey can we push the deadline back a bit?"
}'

Output Format Specification

infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "Analyze the sentiment of these customer reviews. Return a JSON array with objects containing \"text\", \"sentiment\" (positive/negative/neutral), and \"confidence\" (0-1).\n\nReviews:\n1. \"Great product, fast shipping!\"\n2. \"Meh, its okay I guess\"\n3. \"Worst purchase ever, total waste of money\"\n\nReturn only valid JSON, no explanation."
}'

Constraint Setting

infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "Summarize this article in exactly 3 bullet points. Each bullet must be under 20 words. Focus only on actionable insights, not background information.\n\n[article text]"
}'

Image Generation Prompting

Basic Structure

[Subject] + [Style] + [Composition] + [Lighting] + [Technical]

Subject Description

# Bad: vague
"a cat"

# Good: specific
infsh app run falai/flux-dev --input '{
  "prompt": "A fluffy orange tabby cat with green eyes, sitting on a vintage leather armchair"
}'

Style Keywords

infsh app run falai/flux-dev --input '{
  "prompt": "Portrait photograph of a woman, shot on Kodak Portra 400 film, soft natural lighting, shallow depth of field, nostalgic mood, analog photography aesthetic"
}'

Composition Control

infsh app run falai/flux-dev --input '{
  "prompt": "Wide establishing shot of a cyberpunk city skyline at night, rule of thirds composition, neon signs in foreground, towering skyscrapers in background, rain-slicked streets"
}'

Quality Keywords

photorealistic, 8K, ultra detailed, sharp focus, professional,
masterpiece, high quality, best quality, intricate details

Negative Prompts

infsh app run falai/flux-dev --input '{
  "prompt": "Professional headshot portrait, clean background",
  "negative_prompt": "blurry, distorted, extra limbs, watermark, text, low quality, cartoon, anime"
}'

Video Prompting

Basic Structure

[Shot Type] + [Subject] + [Action] + [Setting] + [Style]

Camera Movement

infsh app run google/veo-3-1-fast --input '{
  "prompt": "Slow tracking shot following a woman walking through a sunlit forest, golden hour lighting, shallow depth of field, cinematic, 4K"
}'

Action Description

infsh app run google/veo-3-1-fast --input '{
  "prompt": "Close-up of hands kneading bread dough on a wooden surface, flour dust floating in morning light, slow motion, cozy baking aesthetic"
}'

Temporal Keywords

slow motion, timelapse, real-time, smooth motion,
continuous shot, quick cuts, frozen moment

Advanced Techniques

System Prompts

infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "system": "You are a helpful coding assistant. Always provide code with comments. If you are unsure about something, say so rather than guessing.",
  "prompt": "Write a Python function to validate email addresses using regex."
}'

Structured Output

infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "Extract information from this text and return as JSON:\n\n\"John Smith, CEO of TechCorp, announced yesterday that the company raised $50 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Venture Partners.\"\n\nSchema:\n{\n  \"person\": string,\n  \"title\": string,\n  \"company\": string,\n  \"event\": string,\n  \"amount\": string,\n  \"investor\": string\n}"
}'

Iterative Refinement

# Start broad
infsh app run falai/flux-dev --input '{
  "prompt": "A castle on a hill"
}'

# Add specifics
infsh app run falai/flux-dev --input '{
  "prompt": "A medieval stone castle on a grassy hill"
}'

# Add style
infsh app run falai/flux-dev --input '{
  "prompt": "A medieval stone castle on a grassy hill, dramatic sunset sky, fantasy art style, epic composition"
}'

# Add technical
infsh app run falai/flux-dev --input '{
  "prompt": "A medieval stone castle on a grassy hill, dramatic sunset sky, fantasy art style by Greg Rutkowski, epic composition, 8K, highly detailed"
}'

Multi-Turn Reasoning

# First: analyze
infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "Analyze this business problem: Our e-commerce site has a 70% cart abandonment rate. List potential causes."
}'

# Second: prioritize
infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "Given these causes of cart abandonment: [previous output], rank them by likely impact and ease of fixing. Format as a priority matrix."
}'

# Third: action plan
infsh app run openrouter/claude-sonnet-45 --input '{
  "prompt": "For the top 3 causes identified, provide specific A/B tests we can run to validate and fix each issue."
}'

Model-Specific Tips

Claude

• Excels at nuanced instructions
• Responds well to role-playing
• Good at following complex constraints
• Prefers explicit output formats

GPT-4

• Strong at code generation
• Works well with examples
• Good structured output
• Responds to "let's think step by step"

FLUX

• Detailed subject descriptions
• Style references work well
• Lighting keywords important
• Negative prompts supported

Veo

• Camera movement keywords
• Cinematic language works well
• Action descriptions important
• Include temporal context

Common Mistakes

Prompt Templates

Code Review

Review this [language] code for:
1. Bugs and logic errors
2. Security vulnerabilities
3. Performance issues
4. Code style/best practices

Code:
[code]

For each issue found, provide:
- Line number
- Issue description
- Severity (high/medium/low)
- Suggested fix

Content Writing

Write a [content type] about [topic].

Audience: [target audience]
Tone: [formal/casual/professional]
Length: [word count]
Key points to cover:
1. [point 1]
2. [point 2]
3. [point 3]

Include: [specific elements]
Avoid: [things to exclude]

Image Generation

[Subject with details], [setting/background], [lighting type],
[art style or photography style], [composition], [quality keywords]

Related Skills

# Video prompting guide
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@video-prompting-guide

# LLM models
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@llm-models

# Image generation
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@ai-image-generation

# Full platform skill
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@inference-sh

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