Created by Eric Wong
From Iterative Learnings to a Reusable AI Tool
A "mega prompt" is a comprehensive set of instructions, rules, and strategies that you provide to an LLM before your specific task. It's a "superprompt" designed to front-load all your hard-won knowledge, transforming a general-purpose AI into a specialized tool for a specific task.
Your goal in this ~1-hour exercise is to build, test, and refine one mega prompt for a research task you frequently perform. You will keep all your files locally.
A good mega prompt is built from experience. Instead of starting from a blank page, you'll gather "raw material"—your own knowledge, past examples, and online guides—to seed your prompt.
Act as a prompt engineering analyst. I am trying to build a 'mega prompt' for [Your Specific Task].
I've attached [or will paste below] a collection of my notes, past prompts, ideal outputs, and common failures related to this task.
Your task is to analyze all of this information and extract two lists:
1. A "Success List" of clear strategies, rules, and instructions that lead to a good output.
2. A "Failure List" of common problems, pitfalls, and things to avoid.
[Paste your notes, examples, etc. here if you cannot attach files]
Now you will synthesize your "Success List" into your first mega prompt. The best way to do this is to have an LLM help you.
Use the "Success List" from the previous step to generate a structured set of instructions, paying special attention to the Execution Strategy.
Below is a suggested prompt to help you generate your first mega prompt (v1.0). This prompt *itself* is just a starting point, not a 'gold standard.' Feel free to modify it to get a better v1.0. For example, you can change the sections it's asked to generate (e.g., remove 'Style & Tone' or add a new 'Error Handling' section) before you run it.
Using the "Success List" you just generated, synthesize these points into a single, coherent "mega prompt" template.
Structure the mega prompt with the following sections:
- **Persona:** "Act as an expert..."
- **Core Task:** A general description of the main goal.
- **Context:** Instructions on what source material will be provided.
- **Execution Strategy:** HOW the AI must think and apply the rules. (e.g., "For writing, you must first create an outline, then generate paragraph by paragraph." or "For coding, you must first create a file-by-file plan, then generate code for each file sequentially.")
- **Rules & Constraints:** A strict, bulleted list of "You must..." and "You must not..."
- **Style & Tone:** Instructions on the desired writing style.
- **Output Format:** Instructions on how the output should be structured.
Result: You now have your "Mega Prompt v1.0".
Workflow Tip: Save this generated prompt in your Google Doc (or local file). This is your "Mega Prompt v1.0".
A prompt is only as good as its output. You should first test it on a simple, repeatable task.
A prompt is rarely perfect on the first try. Your goal now is to critically evaluate the output and refine your prompt. This is a loop: you will analyze, edit, and re-test until you're satisfied.
Method 1: Manual Editing (Best for Learning)
Go into your Google Doc and manually type your changes. This forces you to think critically about why you're adding each rule and gives you full control.
Method 2: AI-Assisted Editing (Best for Speed & Large Prompts)
As your prompt gets large, manual editing can be slow. Instead, you can attach your current prompt (e.g., v1.0) and instruct the AI to modify it for you.
"Please find my attached v1.0 mega prompt. It failed to [describe failure]. Please update the prompt by adding a new rule to the 'Rules & Constraints' section that [describe new rule]. Send me back the complete, updated v2.0 prompt."
Warning: This is fast, but you risk "losing track" of your prompt. If you use this method, you must copy/paste the AI's new v2.0 prompt back into your Google Doc to maintain a single "source of truth".
Keep a History! We strongly recommend saving your versions as you go (e.g., "Mega Prompt v1.0", "Mega Prompt v2.0"). You can do this by making copies in your Google Doc (using version history or just copy-pasting) or by saving separate files. This lets you revert to a previous working version if a new change makes things worse.
Congratulations! You've successfully built and refined a reusable "mega prompt". You now have a specialized AI tool, built from your own expertise, that can save you significant time and effort on a recurring task.