PromptSharp › Glossary › Prompt Chaining
What is Prompt Chaining?
Prompt chaining breaks a big task into a sequence of prompts, feeding each step's output into the next.
Prompt chaining splits a complex job into stages, where the output of one prompt becomes the input to the next: extract the facts, then draft, then critique, then rewrite. Each step is simpler and easier to get right than one giant prompt, and you can inspect and fix any stage independently.
It's the manual cousin of an AI 'workflow' or 'agent.' Chaining trades a few extra calls for far more reliable results on anything with multiple distinct steps — research-then-write, analyze-then-summarize, generate-then-verify.
Frequently asked
When should I chain prompts instead of using one big prompt?
When the task has distinct stages that can each fail — research, drafting, formatting, checking. Splitting them makes each step reliable and debuggable, and lets you reuse or swap individual stages.
Is prompt chaining the same as an AI agent?
It's the foundation. Chaining is a fixed sequence you design; an agent decides its own next steps and may call tools. Both pass outputs between steps, but an agent adds autonomy.
Related terms
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