An instruction is the task-specific directive inside a prompt: it tells the language model what to do and can range from a brief command to a detailed behavioral template. Structured instructions improve the chance of a useful response. section 7.2.1
From question to directed answer
A basic template uses “Q: How much does the company match for our 401k? A:”. A stronger instruction adds behavior: “Answer the following question and explain it as if the user was a five-year-old.” section 7.2.1
Use instructions to:
- Encode task-specific information in a reusable prompt template. section 7.5
- Direct response behavior, such as explanation level, while leaving factual context to retrieved documents or other lookups. section 7.2.1
- Balance specificity against generality: detailed directions can improve a particular result, while fewer examples and less specialization make prompts more general-purpose. section 7.5
