Title: My prompt isn’t giving me a helpful answer.

URL Source: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/7996857-my-prompt-isn-t-giving-me-a-helpful-answer

Markdown Content:
1.   [All Collections](https://support.claude.com/en/)
2.   [Claude API and Console](https://support.claude.com/en/collections/5370014-claude-api-and-console)
3.   [API Prompt Design](https://support.claude.com/en/collections/4078533-api-prompt-design)
4.   My prompt isn’t giving me a helpful answer.

March 16, 2026

Claude works best when you give it clear and specific instructions. When crafting your prompt, keep the following principles in mind:

*   Explain your ask simply and clearly.

*   Make sure that your prompt contains as much context as possible. Pretend you are giving these instructions to someone with no background knowledge about what you are asking.

*   Break down complex requests into substeps.

*   Give Claude feedback: you provide Claude with follow-up instructions, clarifications, or ask it to rewrite an answer.

* * *

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