Level: Beginner · Topic: Prompts
A prompt contract is a written agreement with the model: what goes in, what must come out, what it must refuse, and who to escalate to when it is unsure. It is not a vibe. It is not “be helpful.” It is the four clauses you can check.
<h2>Why people look this up at work</h2>
You asked a model to draft an email, a summary, or a recommendation. Sometimes it is fine. Sometimes it invents a policy, a number, or a promise you cannot keep. The usual fix is a longer prompt. That helps until Tuesday, when the same job runs again and the output shape has drifted.
A prompt contract is how you stop treating that as luck.
<h2>The four clauses</h2>
Inputs. What the model is allowed to use. Stick to the text you pasted, this table, this policy. If a fact is not in the input, it must not invent one.
Outputs. The shape you need. A short answer, a list, a table with named columns. If a downstream person or system has to read it, the shape is part of the contract — not “please return JSON if you can.”
Refusals. When it must stop. No legal advice you did not ask for. No claiming a document exists if you did not attach it. A good refusal is short, kind, and tells the human what to do next.
Escalation. Who owns the leftover. If confidence is low, say so and hand it to a person. The model does not get to “be helpful” by guessing.
<h2>A tiny example</h2>
Fuzzy prompt: “Summarise this file for leadership.”
Contract-shaped prompt:
<ul>
<li>Use only the attached notes.</li>
<li>Output three bullets: what happened, what is undecided, what needs a human.</li>
<li>If a figure is not in the notes, write “not in source” — do not estimate.</li>
<li>If the notes are about a decision you are not allowed to make, refuse and name the owner.</li>
</ul>
Same job. Less theatre. Easy to rerun next week on your phone if that is when you get the time.
<h2>What this is not</h2>
It is not a certificate. It is not a guarantee the model is right. It is not a secret format owned by one vendor. It is a way to write instructions you can test.
If you only remember one thing: silent prompts fail. Contracts fail in the open, which is the point.
Instilligent Courses is independent practice and short courses for people who already have a job. Materials are drafted with AI under founder review. The live course on what work stays yours when a model does the first draft is The Durable Stack. A longer prompt-contracts pack exists as teaching notes — it is not on the storefront yet, so we will not pretend it is.
<a href="https://courses.instilligent.com/course-detail/the-durable-stack-whats-left-when-ai-does-the-work/43735/">Practise this week — The Durable Stack</a> · <a href="https://courses.instilligent.com/all-products/">All courses</a>

A prompt contract is a written deal with the model: inputs, outputs, refusals, escalation. Not a vibe.

What is a prompt contract?

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What is a prompt contract?

What is a prompt contract?

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