Claude Code Basics — The Prompt Recipe (lesson deck)

Claude Code Basics · the prompt recipe

Why your prompts give junk

A vague ask gets a vague build. The fix isn't magic words — it's a repeatable recipe you can reuse for anything.

🌫️

Vague in, vague out — "make me a website" leaves every choice to chance.

🍳

A recipe fixes it — say the same five things every time and the quality jumps.

The five ingredients

1

Outcome first

What you're building and who it's for — in one line.

2

The sections

List the concrete parts: hero, three features, a footer…

3

Lock the design

Exact colors (hex) and fonts — so it's not a random guess.

4

Constrain the tech

"Plain HTML, CSS & JS, one file, no framework."

5

Ask for the next step

"When done, tell me how to preview it."

One bite at a time

The recipe starts the build. You finish it by steering, one small step at a time — a conversation, not a single command.

🎯

Be specific — say exactly what you want changed, in plain English. Vague asks get vague results.

🪜

One thing at a time — add the hero, check it, then the next section. Small steps are easy to verify and easy to undo.

🔍

Ask it to explain — "what did you just change, and why?" You stay in charge, even without reading the code.

The payoff

The recipe turns a coin-flip into a result you can predict — and tweak. Specific in, specific out.

🧭

It's transferable — the same five parts work for a site, an app screen, or an email.

Specific in → specific out.

Grab the reusable prompt skeleton on the course page and fill in the brackets.