prompt-chaining

Sequential prompting decomposes complex workflows into ordered, verifiable steps with explicit handoffs and validation checkpoints to prevent drift. This ensures accuracy and traceability by enforcing guardrails between each stage of the LLM task.

Prompt chaining is a technique dividing tasks into fixed steps with validation points and auditability. You need it for complex workflows requiring clear stages, explicit checks between steps, and traceable intermediate outputs for review.

Add guardrails by defining step-level prompts with explicit validation points between each stage. This prevents output drift by enforcing checks on intermediate inputs and outputs before proceeding to the next step in the workflow.

Stepwise prompting requires tasks with clear stages, outputs, or checks required between steps. It is unsuitable for tasks lacking distinct stages or intermediate validation points, as the chain relies on verifiable handoffs and logging inputs and outputs for each stage.

Maintain auditability by logging the inputs and outputs for each stage of the sequential prompt chain. This traceable record of intermediate outputs allows for review and ensures validation checkpoints between steps were properly enforced.