XML-Structured

What It Is

Separates instructions, context, data and output format with XML tags. Recommended in Anthropic's prompt engineering documentation for Claude because tags make long prompts unambiguous and parseable.

When to Use It

Use for any long or document-heavy prompt, and as the outer wrapper for the other frameworks. Put long documents first and the question last.

Blank Template

<documents>{{long material first}}</documents>
<role>{{persona}}</role>
<task>{{what to do}}</task>
<constraints>{{rules}}</constraints>
<output_format>{{shape, tags for parsing}}</output_format>

Five Sample Prompts for Gen AI Professionals

XML-01 - Contract risk scan

<documents><contract>{{contract}}</contract></documents>
<role>Commercial analyst, not a lawyer.</role>
<task>List clauses that create AI-specific risk: data use, IP, liability, model changes.</task>
<constraints>Quote the clause number only, not full text. Flag for legal review, do not advise.</constraints>
<output_format><risks><risk clause="" severity="" reason=""/></risks></output_format>

XML-02 - Multi-doc synthesis

<documents>{{doc_1}}{{doc_2}}{{doc_3}}</documents>
<task>Answer {{question}} using only these documents.</task>
<constraints>Cite doc and paragraph for every claim. Say "not found" if unsupported.</constraints>
<output_format><answer/><citations/></output_format>

XML-03 - System prompt for an agent

<role>You write production system prompts.</role>
<task>Write a system prompt for an agent that {{job}} for {{users}}.</task>
<constraints>Include scope, tools policy, escalation, refusal style, output format. Under 500 words.</constraints>
<output_format><system_prompt/><test_cases>5 adversarial user messages</test_cases></output_format>

XML-04 - Full-stack feature spec

<documents><prd>{{prd}}</prd><schema>{{db_schema}}</schema></documents>
<task>Write a technical spec for the feature.</task>
<constraints>Cover API contract, DB changes, UI states, tests, rollout.</constraints>
<output_format>Markdown with H2 per section.</output_format>

XML-05 - PWA audit

<documents><manifest>{{manifest.json}}</manifest><sw>{{service-worker.js}}</sw></documents>
<task>Audit installability, offline behaviour and caching.</task>
<constraints>Plain HTML, CSS, JS only. No frameworks.</constraints>
<output_format><findings/><fixes>code diffs</fixes></output_format>

Links

• Up: Frameworks
• Curated by: curation prompts