Prompt Engineering

Markdown Output Prompt — Lock the Document Structure

The contract that stops AI documents from restructuring themselves: a pinned section skeleton, forced tables, and strict consistency rules.

Overview

Ask a model for "a comparison document" five times and you get five structures. The markdown output contract fixes that: a "# " title rule, named "## " sections in a pinned order, table rules that refuse prose-collapse, and a strict consistency block — every section used, exact heading text, nothing merged. This resource loads the structure-enforcement showcase: a feature comparison whose Comparison Table section MUST come back as a real markdown table, identical columns every run.

Workflow

Generate once per document type
The prompt is the template — reuse it every time that document gets written.
Watch the table contract
Header row, separator row, one row per item, same columns, "—" for blanks — the rules that keep a table a table.
Keep Strict for parseable docs
Exact heading text is what lets scripts, diffs, and reviewers rely on the structure.

Why This Works

Named sections with jobs beat "structure it nicely" by an order of magnitude
The never-collapse rule directly counters the model's strongest formatting habit
Strict consistency turns a one-off document into a reusable template

Best for

Documents that get diffed, templated, or parsed downstream
Teams generating the same document type repeatedly
Anyone whose comparison tables keep dissolving into paragraphs

Not for

Compressing an existing text — that's the Structured Summary Prompt
Machine-parseable data contracts — that's the JSON Output Prompt Builder

Use cases

Getting the same document skeleton on every run
Forcing real markdown tables for comparisons
Pinning heading text so downstream tooling can parse it

Customize This Resource

Opens this setup in Markdown Output Builder. Generate to get the full markdown prompt — then adjust the sections, table rules, and consistency level.

Open in Markdown Output Builder

Prompt Template

TASK
Compare competing options feature by feature for a buying decision.
Produce a new markdown document — there is no source text to summarize.

DOCUMENT
The document follows a custom structure defined below.

DOCUMENT STRUCTURE
Start with one "# " title line, then use exactly these sections, in this order:
## Overview
What is being compared and why.
## Comparison Table
Feature-by-feature comparison of all options.
## Strengths & Trade-offs
Where each option wins and loses.
## Recommendation
Which option for which situation.

MARKDOWN RULES
- One "# " title at the top; every section below it is a "## " heading.
- Use markdown lists for enumerations — no walls of prose.
- No HTML tags — pure markdown.

TABLE RULES
- Where content compares items, options, or features, you MUST use a markdown table.
- Every table needs a header row, a separator row, and one row per item — never collapse a table into prose.
- Keep the same columns for every row; use "—" for cells with no value.

CODE RULES
- Do not include code blocks.

CONSISTENCY RULES
- Use every section defined above.
- Keep the section order exactly as given.
- Do not omit headings, even when a section is short.
- Do not merge sections.
- Use the exact heading text as defined — no rewording.

OUTPUT RULES
- Return only the markdown document — no preamble, no closing commentary.
- Start directly with the "# " title line.
- Do not wrap the document in code fences.

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