The Art of Prompt Engineering for Custom Agents

The difference between a mediocre AI agent and an exceptional one often comes down to prompt engineering—the art and science of instructing AI systems to perform exactly as intended.

What is Prompt Engineering?

Prompt engineering is the process of designing and refining the instructions, context, and examples that guide AI behavior. For Custom Super Agents, this means crafting prompts that:

• Define the agent's persona and capabilities
• Establish boundaries and constraints
• Provide industry-specific knowledge
• Handle edge cases gracefully
• Maintain consistent quality across interactions

Core Principles

1. Be Specific, Not Vague

Compare these two approaches:

Vague: "Help customers with their questions."

Specific: "You are a client intake specialist for ABC Law Firm. Your role is to gather preliminary case information from potential clients inquiring about personal injury cases. Ask about the incident date, type of injury, and whether they've received medical treatment."

2. Provide Context and Examples

Show the agent what good looks like:

When a client asks about timelines, respond like this:
"Based on similar cases, the typical timeline is 6-12 months. 
However, every case is unique. During our consultation, we can 
provide a more accurate estimate based on your specific situation."

3. Define Boundaries Clearly

What should the agent NOT do?

• Never provide legal advice
• Don't make promises about outcomes
• Always escalate to a human for X, Y, Z situations

4. Build in Fallbacks

Plan for when the agent doesn't know something:

"If you're unsure how to respond, acknowledge the question and offer to have a team member follow up within 24 hours."

Advanced Techniques

Chain-of-Thought Prompting

For complex tasks, guide the agent through reasoning steps:

When reviewing a contract:
1. First, identify the contract type and parties
2. Then, check standard clauses against our template
3. Next, flag any non-standard provisions
4. Finally, summarize key risks and recommendations

Role-Based Prompting

Give the agent a clear identity:

"You are a senior research analyst with 15 years of experience in competitive intelligence. Your analysis should be thorough, data-driven, and actionable."

Testing and Iteration

Great prompts emerge through iteration:

1. Start with a basic prompt
2. Test with realistic scenarios
3. Identify failure modes
4. Refine and add guardrails
5. Test again
6. Repeat until consistent

Want expert help designing prompts for your Custom Super Agents? Let's talk.