Writing Great Prompts
How to write effective prompts and use the AI refinement flow.
What makes a prompt work well
The best prompts explain the product clearly enough that AppCafe does not have to guess the important parts.
A strong prompt usually covers:
- The product: What the app or site is.
- The audience: Who it is for.
- The core actions: What users should be able to do.
- The important pages or sections: What must exist.
- The visual direction: Any strong preference for style, mood, or brand.
A practical prompt template
If you are unsure how to start, use this structure:
Build a [type of app] for [audience]. It should help users [main outcome]. Include [key pages or features]. The design should feel [style direction].
Example:
Build a booking site for a boutique fitness studio. It should help visitors understand the classes, meet the trainers, and request a trial session. Include a home page, schedule overview, pricing, trainer bios, and a contact form. The design should feel energetic, modern, and premium.
Weak versus strong prompts
| Weak prompt | Strong prompt |
|---|---|
| Make me a website | Build a landing page for a SaaS analytics product with a hero section, feature grid, pricing table, FAQ, and contact form. Use a clean dark-blue and white visual style for startup buyers. |
| Todo app | Build a personal task manager with categories, due dates, priority levels, a calendar view, and a clean light theme with rounded cards. |
| Restaurant site | Build a restaurant website with a home page, menu, chef story, gallery, reservation form, and location details. Make it feel warm, upscale, and food-focused. |
What to include when possible
The more of this you include, the better the first result usually is:
- product type
- audience
- must-have features
- must-have pages
- design style
- brand tone
- content priorities
- any hard constraints
When to use AI prompt refinement
Keep Improve prompt with AI enabled when you want AppCafe to ask a few clarifying questions before generation. This usually improves the result by making the plan more specific.
Prompt refinement is especially helpful when:
- your prompt is short
- you are not sure which pages should exist
- the product has multiple user flows
- you care about design direction and brand feel
When to skip refinement
Turn refinement off only when:
- your prompt is already detailed
- you want the fastest rough draft possible
- you are deliberately experimenting with multiple quick attempts
Common prompt mistakes
Avoid these patterns:
- being too vague
- listing features without explaining the product
- asking for everything at once without priorities
- skipping the intended audience
- saying "make it modern" without describing the brand feel
A good workflow after the first result
You do not need the perfect prompt on the first try.
The best loop is usually:
- write a solid prompt
- review the generated workflow and preview
- edit what is close
- regenerate only if the structure is fundamentally wrong