Why one template cannot serve every task
Eight fields, each with its own checklist and its own failure modes.
A prompt for a Python bug and a prompt for a bedtime story share a skeleton and nothing else. The code prompt needs a language version, a framework version, the exact error text and a rule about dependencies. Tone is irrelevant to it. The story prompt needs an age, a reading level and a length, and has no use for a dependency rule. Feeding both through the same template produces something that looks structured and settles none of the decisions that mattered.
This tool keeps a separate checklist for each kind of work. Pick the task and the generator asks the questions that field actually fails on.
Writing and content
Articles, emails, ad copy, scripts, social posts.
Settled for you
- who the reader is and what they already know
- the single action or feeling the piece should produce
- tone, register and reading level
- target length in words
Guarded against
generic openings that could introduce any topic
Code and engineering
Writing, fixing, reviewing or explaining code.
Settled for you
- language and version, framework and version
- runtime or platform the code must run on
- the exact error text or failing behaviour, if this is a fix
- inputs, outputs and the edge cases that matter
Guarded against
answering with pseudocode when runnable code was needed
Data and analysis
Spreadsheets, queries, reports, chart specifications.
Settled for you
- the shape of the data: columns, types and what each column means
- row count and time range, if relevant
- how to treat missing, duplicated or out-of-range values
- the exact question the analysis must answer
Guarded against
estimating a number instead of saying the data does not contain it
Teaching and study
Lessons, explanations, practice questions, tutoring.
Settled for you
- the learner age, grade or prior knowledge
- the curriculum or syllabus, if one applies
- whether to give the answer directly or guide step by step
- the language of instruction
Guarded against
pitching the explanation above the stated level
Business and strategy
Plans, research briefs, proposals, decision memos.
Settled for you
- the decision the output is meant to support
- the market, company size and stage
- the budget, timeline or resource limits
- which assumptions are fixed and which are open
Guarded against
presenting assumptions as findings
Image generation
Midjourney, DALL·E, Stable Diffusion, Flux.
Settled for you
- subject, and what the subject is doing
- setting and time of day
- medium and style: photograph, oil painting, 3D render, line art
- lighting, lens or camera treatment where a photographic look is wanted
Guarded against
writing instructions in sentences instead of describing the scene
Video generation
Sora, Veo, Kling, Runway.
Settled for you
- the subject and the action, described as one continuous shot
- camera movement: static, pan, tilt, dolly, orbit, handheld
- lens and shot size: wide, medium, close-up
- lighting and time of day
Guarded against
describing several cuts in a prompt that produces a single shot
System prompts and agents
Reusable instructions, assistants, automated workflows.
Settled for you
- the role and the boundary of what it may decide alone
- the tools available and the condition for using each one
- what to do when information is missing
- what to do when a tool fails
Guarded against
no defined behaviour for the unhappy path
Text prompts and image prompts are not the same object
There is one place where the shared skeleton breaks down completely. A text model reads an instruction: full sentences, a role, constraints, an output contract. An image or video model reads a description: comma-separated phrases naming the subject, the setting, the medium, the lighting, the lens, the composition, the palette, plus parameters and a list of things to exclude.
Writing “You are a professional photographer, please create…” into Midjourney spends prompt budget on words the model has no use for. Role prompting does not exist there. Video models add a dimension neither of the other two has — camera movement, shot size and duration — and describing several cuts in a prompt that produces one continuous shot is the single most common reason video output ignores what you asked for. The generator switches mode automatically when you pick an image or video task, and drops the sections that would be dead weight.