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COMPEL Glossary / prompt

Prompt

The input text, structured message sequence, or multimodal payload provided to a language model at inference time.

What this means in practice

In governance context, a prompt is treated as versioned configuration — not free text — because production behavior depends on the exact prompt content, and auditability requires reproducible prompt versions.

Synonyms

model prompt , LLM prompt , input prompt

See also

  • System prompt — Operator-authored instructions that set behavior, persona, and boundaries for a model — distinguished from user prompts because the system prompt carries the operator's policy, while the user prompt carries end-user intent.
  • User prompt — End-user input that consumes the system prompt's behavior — the "request" side of an LLM interaction.
  • Prompt template — A versioned, parameterized representation of a prompt — with placeholders for user input, retrieved context, and dynamic state — enabling reuse, testing, and audit.

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