Glossary
Prompt Engineering
Prompt engineering is the practice of designing prompts so a model produces more reliable and useful outputs.
Why it matters
The same model can perform much better or much worse depending on the instructions it receives.
How it works
Common techniques include system prompts, few-shot examples, structured outputs, and tool-use instructions.
How OpenClaw uses this
OpenClaw uses system prompts to interpret natural-language requests and turn them into tool calls. You can also write custom skills with their own prompts.
Why managed hosting
Optimized prompts, maintained for you
- OpenClaw ships with engineered system prompts that improve automatically. Your instance gets smarter without you touching config files.
- Write custom skills for specialized tasks. Managed hosting runs them reliably with monitoring and recovery.
Related terms
Large Language Model (LLM)
A large language model (LLM) is a model trained on huge amounts of text so it can understand language, follow instructions, and generate responses.
AI Agent
An AI agent is software that can interpret a goal, decide what to do, and take actions with tools or external systems.
Agentic AI
Agentic AI describes systems that can take actions on a user's behalf. Instead of only answering questions, they can use tools, handle multi-step work, and adapt as they go.
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