metaprompter

Metaprompter

You are applying Eric Nowoslawski's Metaprompter technique, using AI to improve AI prompts by asking what additional context, examples, or clarifications would help.

Core Concept

Use metaprompter ('what do you need to improve this prompt?') (Idea credited to Eric Nowoslawski.)

Instead of guessing how to improve a prompt, ask the AI itself:

• What's unclear?
• What examples would help?
• What edge cases should be handled?

Input

User provides:

• Current prompt that needs improvement
• Optionally: examples of poor outputs
• Optionally: specific issues they've noticed

Process

1. The Metaprompt

   Here is a prompt I'm using for [TASK]:
   
   ---
   [YOUR CURRENT PROMPT]
   ---
   
   I want to improve this prompt's accuracy and consistency.
   
   Please analyze it and tell me:
   
   1. CLARITY: What parts of the instructions are ambiguous?
   
   2. MISSING CONTEXT: What background information would help
      you perform this task better?
   
   3. EXAMPLES NEEDED: What examples of input/output pairs
      would clarify my expectations?
   
   4. EDGE CASES: What scenarios might cause problems or
      inconsistent outputs?
   
   5. OUTPUT FORMAT: Is the expected output format clear?
      What would make it clearer?
   
   6. SAFEGUARDS: What fallback behaviors should be defined
      for missing/bad data?
   
   Then provide a REVISED PROMPT incorporating these improvements.
   

2. Iterate Based on Feedback

   After getting the metaprompt response:

   • Review suggested improvements
   • Add the examples it requested
   • Clarify the ambiguous parts
   • Define the edge case handling

3. Output Format

   ## Metaprompt Analysis
   
   ### Original Prompt
   [The prompt being improved]
   
   ### Issues Identified
   
   | Category | Issue | Suggested Fix |
   |----------|-------|---------------|
   | Clarity | [Issue] | [Fix] |
   | Context | [Issue] | [Fix] |
   | Examples | [Issue] | [Fix] |
   | Edge Cases | [Issue] | [Fix] |
   
   ### Improved Prompt
   
   

   [The revised, improved prompt]

   
   ### Key Improvements Made
   - [Improvement 1]
   - [Improvement 2]
   - [Improvement 3]
   

Example

Input: Current prompt for company categorization

Original Prompt:

Tell me if this company is B2B or B2C based on their website.

Metaprompt Analysis:

Issues Identified

Category	Issue	Suggested Fix
Clarity	"Based on their website" is vague	Specify what to look for
Context	No definition of B2B vs B2C	Add clear definitions
Examples	No examples provided	Add 4-5 examples
Edge Cases	What about companies that do both?	Add BOTH category
Output Format	Just "tell me" is ambiguous	Specify exact format
Safeguards	No handling for unclear cases	Add fallback output

Improved Prompt

TASK: Classify {{company_name}} as B2B, B2C, or BOTH based on {{company_website}}.

DEFINITIONS:
- B2B: Primarily sells products/services to other businesses
- B2C: Primarily sells products/services to individual consumers
- BOTH: Significant revenue from both business and consumer customers

WHAT TO CHECK:
- Who is the target customer on the homepage?
- What does the pricing page target?
- Are there "Enterprise" or "Business" sections?
- Is there a consumer purchase flow?

EXAMPLES:
- salesforce.com → B2B (CRM for businesses)
- nike.com → B2C (sells shoes to consumers)
- amazon.com → BOTH (consumer marketplace + AWS for businesses)
- shopify.com → B2B (sells to businesses, even though those businesses are B2C)
- slack.com → B2B (team communication for companies)

OUTPUT:
- Return exactly one of: B2B, B2C, BOTH
- If website is inaccessible or unclear, return: UNABLE_TO_DETERMINE
- Do not explain or add commentary, just the classification

Key Improvements Made

• Added clear definitions of categories
• Specified exactly what to look for
• Included diverse examples including edge cases
• Added BOTH category for mixed business models
• Defined safeguard output for unclear cases
• Specified exact output format

When to Use Metaprompting

Use When:

• Prompt outputs are inconsistent
• Getting unexpected results
• Scaling up a prompt to more volume
• Creating a prompt for others to use
• Output quality isn't meeting standards

Quick Metaprompt:

What would you need to know to do this task better?
[YOUR PROMPT]

Detailed Metaprompt:

Analyze this prompt for:
1. Ambiguities
2. Missing context
3. Needed examples
4. Edge cases
5. Output format clarity
6. Safeguards needed

Then provide an improved version.

[YOUR PROMPT]

Iterative Improvement

For important prompts, iterate:

Round 1: Get initial improvements Round 2: Test improved prompt, note failures Round 3: Metaprompt again with failure examples Round 4: Test and refine

Here's my prompt and some examples where it failed:

PROMPT: [Current version]

FAILURES:
- Input: [X], Expected: [Y], Got: [Z]
- Input: [A], Expected: [B], Got: [C]

How should I modify the prompt to handle these cases?

Related Skills

• /prompt-engineering-rules - Full prompting framework
• /icp-scoring-dynamic - Complex prompts to improve
• /plg-company-detection - Example well-crafted prompt
• /product-complexity-detection - Another example

Credits

The metaprompter technique is taught by Eric Nowoslawski (Growth Engine X). The prompts and wording here are ours.

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Examples are illustrative. Company names, prices and numbers in them are placeholders or may be out of date, so check the live source before you rely on any detail.