Prompt Chaining
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
Prompt chaining is breaking a big task into smaller prompts and feeding the output of one into the next. Instead of asking the AI to 'build me a full-stack app,' you ask it to design the schema, then generate the API, then build the UI. Each step builds on the last. It's like an assembly line, but the workers are all the same AI wearing different hats.
Real Talk
Prompt chaining is a technique where multiple AI prompts are linked sequentially, with each prompt's output serving as input or context for the next. This decomposition strategy produces higher-quality results than monolithic prompts by reducing complexity at each step. It's fundamental to agentic workflows, multi-step code generation, and sophisticated AI-assisted development pipelines.
When You'll Hear This
"I prompt-chained the migration: schema design → SQL generation → validation → test generation." / "Prompt chaining turns one impossible task into five easy ones."
Related Terms
Agentic Workflow
An agentic workflow is when AI doesn't just suggest code — it actually executes a multi-step plan autonomously.
One-Shot Prompting
One-shot prompting is giving the AI a single example of what you want, then asking it to do the same pattern for new input.
Prompt Engineering
Prompt engineering is the art of talking to AI so it actually does what you want.
Vibe Coding
Vibe coding is writing software by vibes — you describe what you want to an AI, it writes the code, and you just... vibe.