Curriculum
Work through the chapters in order for the recommended path, or jump to any topic that interests you.
Practice Simulator
Ready to go beyond guided exercises? Tackle open-ended problems with hidden test cases, timed drills, and coaching hints.
Beginner
Core mechanics of prompting — how to structure messages, be specific, and set roles.
Basic Prompt Structure
beginnerMessages API formatting · User/assistant roles · System prompts
2 exercises
Being Clear and Direct
beginnerSpecificity · Eliminating ambiguity · Constraining output
2 exercises
Assigning Roles
beginnerSystem prompts for role assignment · Persona adoption · Tone and expertise control
2 exercises
Intermediate
Level up with XML structuring, output control, chain-of-thought reasoning, and few-shot examples.
Separating Data from Instructions
intermediateXML tags as delimiters · Variable substitution · Data/instruction separation
2 exercises
Formatting Output & Speaking for Claude
intermediateOutput format control · XML output tags · Response steering
3 exercises
Precognition (Thinking Step by Step)
intermediateChain-of-thought prompting · Thinking tags · Reasoning before answering
2 exercises
Using Examples (Few-Shot Prompting)
intermediateFew-shot prompting · Example selection · Format consistency through examples
1 exercise
Advanced
Production-grade techniques: hallucination prevention, complex multi-technique prompts, chaining, and tool use.
Avoiding Hallucinations
advancedGiving Claude an out · Citation-based answers · Evidence gathering · Scratchpad technique
3 exercises
Building Complex Prompts
advancedMulti-technique prompts · Production-grade prompting · Industry-specific applications
4 exercises
Chaining Prompts
advancedMulti-step prompt chains · Output-to-input piping · Task decomposition
1 exercise
Tool Use (Function Calling)
advancedTool/function definitions · Structured tool inputs · Tool result handling
1 exercise
Search & Retrieval (RAG)
advancedRAG patterns · Context injection · Document grounding
1 exercise