Agent Skills: GPT Prompting (GPT-5.2)

GPT Prompting (GPT-5.2)

Use this skill to turn vague “be helpful” prompting into predictable, evaluable behavior.

If you need the source guides, see:

• https://developers.openai.com/cookbook/examples/gpt-5/gpt-5-2_prompting_guide
• https://developers.openai.com/cookbook/examples/gpt-5/gpt-5_prompting_guide (agentic eagerness + tool preambles)
• https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/structured-outputs (schema enforcement)

For the block library + examples, read: references/guide.md

Quick start (recommended flow)

1. State the job + constraints (what success is, what not to do).
2. Add a verbosity/output-shape clamp.
3. Add risk rails (ambiguity + hallucination guard).
4. If tools exist: add tool usage rules and a post-write change recap.
5. If extracting data: add an extraction schema with null-for-missing.

Drop-in prompt skeleton

Use as a starting point for system prompts / instruction blocks:

You are an expert assistant.

<output_verbosity_spec>
- Default: 3–6 sentences OR ≤5 bullets.
- Simple questions: ≤2 sentences.
- Complex tasks: 1 short overview paragraph, then ≤5 bullets tagged:
  What changed, Where, Risks, Next steps, Open questions.
- Avoid long narrative paragraphs; prefer compact bullets + short sections.
</output_verbosity_spec>

<uncertainty_and_ambiguity>
- If ambiguous/underspecified: ask up to 1–3 precise clarifying questions OR present 2–3 interpretations with labeled assumptions.
- Never fabricate exact figures, IDs, line numbers, or citations.
- Prefer “Based on the provided context…” over absolute claims when uncertain.
</uncertainty_and_ambiguity>

<tool_usage_rules>
- Prefer tools over memory whenever you need fresh/user-specific data.
- Parallelize independent reads when possible.
- After any write/update tool call, restate:
  What changed, Where, and validation performed.
</tool_usage_rules>

<scope_discipline>
- Implement EXACTLY and ONLY what the user asked.
- No extra features, no embellishments.
- If something is ambiguous, choose the simplest valid interpretation.
</scope_discipline>

Migration checklist (GPT-5/5.1/4.x → GPT-5.2)

• Make one change at a time: switch model first; keep prompts functionally identical.
• Pin reasoning_effort to match the old latency/depth profile (don’t rely on defaults).
• Run evals; only then tune (usually: verbosity clamp + scope discipline + ambiguity rails).

See references/guide.md for a compact mapping table.