Prompting Overview
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How to write effective prompts for Claira to get accurate, consistent results from AI-powered document review.
Prompting Overview
Writing effective prompts is the key to getting accurate, consistent results from Claira. A prompt is your set of instructions to the AI -- it tells the model exactly what to look for, how to analyze the document, and what format to return the result in.
Why prompts matter
Think of writing a prompt as giving instructions to a meticulous but literal-minded colleague. If you say "tell me about this document," you will get a vague, general response. If you say "determine whether this document discusses the patent licensing agreement between Acme Corp and Beta Inc, and respond with Relevant or Not Relevant," you will get a precise, usable answer.
The quality of your results depends almost entirely on the quality of your prompt. Spending time on prompt writing is not overhead -- it is the most impactful investment you can make in your review workflow.
Core principles
Be clear and specific
State exactly what you want the AI to do. Vague instructions produce vague results.
Define key terms
Do not assume the AI knows your case-specific terminology. If a term has a particular meaning in your review, define it.
Ask for structured output
Tell the AI exactly how to format its response. This makes results consistent across thousands of documents and easier to use downstream.
Keep prompts focused
Each prompt should have a single, clear objective. If you need multiple types of analysis, consider running separate prompts rather than cramming everything into one.
Limit the AI's options
When you want a classification, list the exact allowed values. When you want a summary, specify the length. Constraints make output predictable.
Tell the AI what to do when information is missing
Documents do not always contain the information you are looking for. Your prompt should tell the AI how to handle that.
Ask for a short description of the document
Add one line asking for a plain description of what the document is: one or two sentences, on its own labelled line. It costs almost nothing per document and it is what makes an Insight over the finished task worth reading: an Insight can only work from what your prompt asked the AI to write down, and a set of bare Relevant / Not Relevant codes gives it nothing to synthesize.
Claira's prompt generator now adds this line for you on every coding prompt it drafts. Keep it when you edit the prompt, and ask for it by hand when you write one from scratch.
The generator leaves the line out in one case: when the whole answer has to be a single value going into one field (a date, a name, a document type, a translation), because a second sentence there would corrupt the value.
Prompt examples by workflow
Relevance review
Privilege review
Objective coding
Entity extraction
Key fact finding
Quick checklist
Before you run a prompt at scale, confirm:
- Did you state clearly what you want the AI to do?
- Did you define any case-specific terms?
- Did you specify the exact output format?
- Did you set limits on the response (allowed values, length)?
- Did you include instructions for when information is missing?
- Are you using the same wording for the same task across documents and reviewers?
Next steps
- Ready to write your own? See Custom Prompts for practical guidance.
- Need help tuning model behavior? See Model Settings.
- Need better scan quality? See Understanding Results.
Need help? Contact us at support@claira.to.
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