Automate Basics

Free short course

Prompting That Works

The techniques that survive contact with real work

Not a list of magic phrases. The handful of moves that reliably change output quality, and the popular ones that do nothing.

Rahul Arora

Founder, Automate Basics

Start free
Level
BeginnerNo experience assumed
Lessons
9Plus one practice brief
Content
1h 35mRead at your own pace
Price
FreeNo exam, no certificate

What you’ll be working on

  • Prompting

Freeto read, all of it

The first lesson needs no account. A free account opens the rest — no card, nothing to cancel.

Start freeRead the syllabus

What this course includes

  • 9 lessons · 1h 35m
  • One practice brief on your own work
  • No exam and nothing to pass
  • Nothing locked, nothing gated
  • No subscription — this site does not have one

Where this leads

This course makes your output better. AIE-100 is about whether you can trust it: how these tools fail, the check that catches it before you send, what may never be pasted in, and when you have to say you used one. It is the assessed version, and the one that ends in a credential.

AIE-100: AI Essentials

Who this is for

  • Your results are inconsistent and you cannot tell why
  • You have collected prompts from social media that did not work as advertised
  • You want the small set of techniques that genuinely transfer between tools

What you'll be able to do

This is what the course covers. Nothing else is claimed, and none of it is assessed.

  • Work out why a given output was bad, instead of guessing at a new prompt
  • Use examples, constraints and decomposition — the three techniques with the largest real effect
  • Get a consistent output shape for anything you repeat
  • Spot the popular advice that does nothing, and stop paying for it in effort

Where this leads

AIE-100 · AI Essentials

This course makes your output better. AIE-100 is about whether you can trust it: how these tools fail, the check that catches it before you send, what may never be pasted in, and when you have to say you used one. It is the assessed version, and the one that ends in a credential.

  • Everything in AIE-100 is free to read, and the assessment is free to sit.
  • Pass it and the certificate is yours for $49, once — never a subscription.
  • Verifiable by anyone, with no account and no login.
  • No renewal, no expiry, no annual fee.
See AIE-100How verification works

Automate Basics

Certificate of Competency

AIE-100

This certifies that

Your name

has passed the final assessment of the AI Essentials certification.

The holder declares the course’s lessons and live applications complete; the assessment result above is machine-marked by the issuer.

Assessed competencies are published with this credential at automatebasics.com/verify

Credential ID

AIE-100-2026-·······

Verify at automatebasics.com/verify

The curriculum

Every module, every lesson and every duration, before you decide. All of it is free, and there is nothing to buy on this course.

Modules
3
Lessons
9
Practice briefs
1
Total time
about 1h 35m
  1. 1

    Why output is bad

    Four causes, each with a different fix. Diagnosing first is what separates this from guessing.

    3 lessons · 17 min

    1. 1.1The four causes of a bad answerYou can name which of four causes produced a bad output, and reach for the matching fix instead of retyping the prompt8 min
    2. 1.2Context is the whole gameYou can spot the detail your summary threw away, and brief from the raw material instead5 min
    3. 1.3What does not workYou can test whether a technique helps by running the task twice with one change, and drop the folklore that fails the test4 min
  2. 2

    The techniques that work

    Four moves with a real, repeatable effect on output quality.

    3 lessons · 27 min

    1. 2.1Show, do not describeYou can supply two or three examples so output arrives in your voice and format, not the default one11 min
    2. 2.2Constrain the outputYou can state the four constraints that decide output shape, and give it a permitted way to fail before it fills a gap9 min
    3. 2.3Decompose, then critiqueYou can split a big request into planned passes so you can change direction early, and get objections back instead of a smoother rewrite7 min
  3. 3

    Making it repeatable

    Turning a prompt that worked once into something that works every time, for you and for other people.

    3 lessons · 20 min

    1. 3.1From a lucky prompt to a reliable oneYou can harden a prompt by testing it on the input designed to break it, and record why each line is there11 min
    2. 3.2Prompts other people will useYou can package a prompt so a colleague gets your result without coming back to ask you a question5 min
    3. 3.3Knowing when to stop promptingYou can recognise the four signs that more prompting will not help, and stop after two attempts4 min

Practice brief

A brief completed against your own work with a published rubric. Free, like every lesson.

  1. Rebuild your worst prompt

    30 min

    The old prompt, your diagnosis, the new prompt with a note on why each constraint is there, and the results across three inputs.

No exam, no certificate

This is a short course. It is free, there is nothing to pay and nothing to sit, and it does not issue a credential.

It leads to AIE-100, AI Essentials.

See AIE-100

Start Prompting That Works

First lesson is 8 minutes and needs no account.

  • Your place is kept — pick up on your phone where you left off on your laptop
  • Lessons you have finished stay finished, even if you clear your browser
  • Assessment results are recorded against you, permanently

Free account, no card, nothing to cancel.

Start free