Prompt Chaining
Break complex tasks into connected steps. This is where prompt engineering becomes workflow engineering.
What You'll Learn
- Why one mega-prompt often fails and chains succeed
- How to decompose tasks into chainable steps
- Passing output from one prompt as input to the next
- Building reliable multi-step workflows
One Prompt Can't Do Everything
There's a limit to what you can accomplish in a single prompt. Ask AI to research, analyze, write, format, and review — all at once — and quality drops across the board. The model spreads its attention too thin.
Prompt chaining fixes this. You break the work into focused steps, where each prompt does one thing well, and the output of each step feeds into the next.
Input -> Process -> Output -> Next Input
Every chain follows this pattern. The key insight: each step should produce clean, structured output that the next step can consume without confusion.
Step 1: Research
"Analyze this company's website and extract: their target audience, main value proposition, top 3 competitors, and pricing model. Return as a structured brief."
Step 2: Strategy
"Based on this competitive brief: [paste Step 1 output]. Identify 3 positioning opportunities they're missing. For each, explain the gap and suggest a specific angle."
Step 3: Execution
"Using positioning opportunity #2 from this analysis: [paste Step 2 output]. Write 3 landing page headlines and a 100-word hero section that captures this angle. Tone: confident, not salesy."
Gate Checks Between Steps
Before passing output forward, add a validation step. This catches errors early instead of compounding them through the chain.
Gate Check Prompt
"Review this output from the previous step. Check for: factual accuracy, completeness (all requested fields present), and internal consistency. If anything is wrong or missing, fix it. Then output the corrected version."
Parallel Chains and Merge Points
Not every chain is linear. Sometimes you run parallel branches and merge the results.
Example: You're writing a blog post. Branch A: research the topic and produce key facts. Branch B: analyze your audience and determine the right angle. Merge point: combine both outputs into a writing brief, then write the post from that brief.
This mirrors how teams work. One person researches, another strategizes, then they combine insights. You can do the same thing with prompts.
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