Anti-Patterns to Eliminate

Common prompt engineering mistakes and their fixes.

ALL CAPS Shouting

YOU MUST NEVER SKIP ANY PHASE
ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN
CRITICAL RULES: ...

Problem: No special token salience. Wasted effort. Fix: Use structural placement (start/end, separate section).

Long Lists of “NEVER” / “DO NOT”

- Don't do A
- Don't do B
- Don't do C
- Never do D
[...10 more...]

Problem: Negation activates concepts. Creates a constraint satisfaction puzzle. Fix: Replace with 3-5 constitutional principles + affirmative alternatives.

Kitchen-Sink Prompts (2000+ tokens)

Problem: Lost-in-the-middle effect. Critical information gets diluted.

flowchart TD
    KS["Kitchen-Sink Prompt<br/>2000+ tokens"] --> FIX
    FIX["Fix strategies"]
    FIX --> F1["Keep system prompt focused and minimal"]
    FIX --> F2["Move examples to separate few-shot injection"]
    FIX --> F3["Use structured sections: Role, Scope, Process"]
    FIX --> F4["Target 300-800 tokens for specialized agents"]

Politeness Padding

"Please kindly consider writing some code that might help with..."

Problem: Wasted tokens. Models are already helpful. Fix: Be direct: “Write code that implements X.”

Ambiguous Scope

"Help the user with their request"

Problem: Agent doesn’t know boundaries. Fix: “Handle requests in [domain]. Redirect [out-of-scope] to [handler].”

Implicit Tool Restrictions

prompt: "You should only use specific tools..."

Problem: Vague. Agent guesses wrong. Fix: Explicit tool config + “Your only tools: [X, Y, Z].”

No Verification Step

Problem: Agent generates without checking.

flowchart LR
    subgraph "Without verification"
        G1[Generate] --> O1[Output]
    end

    subgraph "With verification"
        G2[Generate] --> V[Verify against criteria] --> O2[Output final version]
    end

Fix: Include a self-check step in every process.

Quick Checklist

• Does every agent have explicit Role + Scope?
• Are all constraints affirmative (what to do, not what to avoid)?
• Are critical constraints at both start and end of prompt?
• Is there a Process section with structure?
• Is output format specified?
• Are redundancies eliminated?
• Is the prompt focused (300-800 tokens for specialists)?
• Are tool restrictions explicit?
• Is there a verification step?
• Is the instruction hierarchy explicit?