Prompt contract

Last updated Jul 25, 2026

A **prompt contract** turns a vague ask into a testable job: audience, deliverable, sources of truth, constraints, and stop rules. It is the difference between “write something good” and work you can accept or reject.

#When to use

Any workplace AI task — email, Excel, code, research, voice — before you open the chat box.

#When not to

Exploratory brainstorming where you want divergence first. Still add a contract before you ship.

#Quality checklist

Named deliverable and reviewer
Allowed sources / forbidden inventions
Acceptance tests (what “done” looks like)
Explicit non-goals and escalation triggers

#Example

Job: June regional revenue formula in Excel 365
Sources: columns A–D only; do not invent sheets
Output: one formula + three tests (normal, boundary, blank)
Stop if locale separators are unknown

#Learn next

Lesson: `first-conversation` and job-first pages in Lane B
Related: prompt, structured output

Learn by doing → Learn by doing →

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