CRISP Framework
Five essential building blocks for clear, actionable AI prompts. CRISP gives you a memorable checklist — Context, Role, Instructions, Scope, Parameters — so every prompt arrives complete and ready to produce results on the first try.
Introduced: CRISP emerged around 2023 as a community-developed acronym within the prompt engineering community. Rather than originating from a single academic paper, it crystallized organically as practitioners discovered that five recurring elements — Context, Role, Instructions, Scope, and Parameters — consistently separated effective prompts from vague ones. The framework gained traction through blog posts, workshops, and online courses as one of the most accessible entry points into structured prompting.
Modern LLM Status: CRISP remains highly practical and widely recommended for everyday use with modern LLMs. While advanced models like Claude, GPT-4, and Gemini can handle unstructured requests better than their predecessors, they still produce significantly better outputs when prompts include all five CRISP elements. The framework’s real strength is as a mental checklist — it ensures you don’t accidentally omit critical information that the model needs to give you what you actually want. For beginners and professionals alike, CRISP remains one of the fastest ways to improve prompt quality.
Structure Eliminates Guesswork
The Core Insight
Most weak prompts fail for the same reason: they leave out information the model needs. You know what you want, but the AI doesn’t share your context, your assumptions, or your quality standards. The result is a generic response that requires multiple revision rounds to get right.
CRISP solves this by giving you five checkpoints to hit before sending any prompt. Context sets the scene. Role activates the right expertise. Instructions spell out the task. Scope draws boundaries. Parameters define the output format. When all five are present, the model has everything it needs to deliver a targeted, useful response on the first attempt.
Think of CRISP like a briefing document for a new contractor. You wouldn’t hand someone a project without explaining the background, their role, what you need done, what’s in and out of scope, and how you want it delivered. The same principle applies to AI — the more complete the briefing, the better the work.
Research in cognitive science shows that checklists reduce errors even among experts. CRISP works the same way for prompting — it’s not that you can’t write a good prompt without it, but the acronym ensures you consistently include every element that matters. The difference between a good prompt and a great one is usually a missing piece of context or an undefined constraint that CRISP would have caught.
The Five CRISP Elements
Five components that transform vague requests into precise, actionable prompts
Context — Set the Stage
Provide the background information that helps the AI understand your situation. Context includes who you are, what you’re working on, what you’ve already tried, and any constraints the model should know about. Without context, the AI defaults to generic assumptions that rarely match your actual needs.
“I’m a product manager at a B2B SaaS startup. We’re preparing for our Series A fundraise next quarter and need to sharpen our positioning.”
Role — Define the Expertise
Assign a specific persona or professional identity for the AI to adopt. Roles activate domain-specific knowledge patterns and shape vocabulary, reasoning approach, and priorities. A marketing strategist writes differently than a data analyst, and the AI adjusts accordingly.
“Act as a venture capital advisor who has helped 50+ startups refine their pitch decks and market positioning.”
Instructions — Specify the Task
State clearly what you want the AI to do. Good instructions cover the “what” and the “how” — what to produce, what to include, what to avoid, and how to organize the response. The more precise your instructions, the fewer revision rounds you’ll need.
“Review our current positioning statement and suggest three alternative versions. For each, explain what makes it stronger and which investor objections it preemptively addresses.”
Scope — Draw the Boundaries
Define what’s in bounds and what’s out. Scope prevents the AI from going too broad, too narrow, or off-topic. It includes topic limits, audience considerations, and any areas you explicitly want excluded. Clear scope focuses the response on exactly what matters to you.
“Focus only on our core product — the analytics dashboard. Don’t address our secondary tools or future roadmap features. Target audience is enterprise CTOs, not developers.”
Parameters — Define the Output
Specify how you want the response delivered. Parameters cover format, length, tone, style, and any structural requirements. Without parameters, the AI chooses its own defaults — which may not match what you need. These guardrails ensure the output is immediately usable.
“Keep each positioning statement under 30 words. Use a confident, forward-looking tone. Present as a numbered list with the rationale in bullet points beneath each option.”
See the Difference
Why structured prompts consistently outperform vague requests
Unstructured Prompt
Help me write an email about our new product feature.
A generic, formal email template about an unspecified feature. Wrong tone, missing key details, and requires multiple rounds of revision to become usable.
CRISP Prompt
Context: I’m a product manager at a B2B SaaS company. We’re launching a new real-time collaboration feature on March 1st.
Role: Act as a product marketing specialist.
Instructions: Write an announcement email explaining the feature — what it does, how to activate it, and key benefits for teams.
Scope: Address current customers only. Don’t cover pricing changes or enterprise-only features.
Parameters: Under 300 words, enthusiastic but professional tone, bullet points for key capabilities.
A polished, on-brand announcement email with the right tone, correct scope, and clear formatting — ready to send with minimal edits.
Practice Responsible AI
Always verify AI-generated content before use. AI systems can produce confident but incorrect responses. When using AI professionally, transparent disclosure is both best practice and increasingly a legal requirement.
48 US states now require AI transparency in key areas. Critical thinking remains your strongest tool against misinformation.
CRISP in Action
See how the five elements combine across different use cases
Context: Our e-commerce company sells sustainable home goods. We’re launching a spring cleaning campaign targeting eco-conscious millennials. Last year’s campaign had a 2.3% conversion rate and we want to beat that.
Role: Act as a senior digital marketing strategist with expertise in sustainable brands and DTC e-commerce.
Instructions: Create a 4-week campaign brief covering email sequences, social media content pillars, and one hero promotion. Include messaging angles and suggested A/B test variables.
Scope: Focus on Instagram, email, and our website. Exclude TikTok and paid search — those have separate teams. Only cover products in our “Kitchen & Bath” category.
Parameters: Present as a structured brief with weekly breakdowns. Use headers and bullet points. Keep under 800 words. Tone should be strategic and actionable, not flowery.
Every CRISP element contributes: Context provides the baseline metrics and audience; Role activates DTC marketing expertise; Instructions define the deliverable precisely; Scope prevents overlap with other teams; Parameters ensure the output is formatted for immediate use in a team meeting.
Context: We’re migrating our REST API from v2 to v3. The main changes are new authentication flow (OAuth 2.0 replacing API keys), restructured endpoint paths, and pagination changes. Our developers need a migration guide.
Role: Act as a technical writer who specializes in developer documentation and API references.
Instructions: Write a migration guide that walks developers through each breaking change, provides before/after code examples, and includes a pre-migration checklist they can follow.
Scope: Cover only breaking changes — don’t document new features or improvements that don’t require code changes. Assume developers are using Python or JavaScript SDKs.
Parameters: Use markdown formatting with code blocks. Include a table of contents. Keep each section self-contained so developers can jump to the change relevant to them. Technical but approachable tone.
Context explains the migration scenario; Role ensures technical writing standards; Instructions define the exact deliverable with code examples; Scope filters out non-breaking changes that would dilute the guide; Parameters specify markdown formatting and a navigable structure that developers expect.
Context: I’m a busy parent of two kids (ages 5 and 8). Both are picky eaters. I have about 30 minutes for dinner prep on weeknights. We’re trying to eat less processed food but the kids won’t eat anything “weird.”
Role: Act as a family nutritionist who specializes in making healthy food appealing to children.
Instructions: Create a 5-day weeknight dinner plan. For each meal, include a brief description of why kids tend to like it, estimated prep time, and one hidden vegetable strategy.
Scope: Weeknight dinners only — don’t plan breakfasts, lunches, or weekend meals. No recipes with nuts (allergy) or seafood (kids won’t touch it).
Parameters: Present as a simple table with columns for day, meal name, prep time, and the hidden veggie tip. Keep descriptions short — I need to scan this while grocery shopping.
CRISP works just as well for personal tasks. Context explains the real constraints (picky kids, limited time); Role activates child nutrition expertise; Instructions request specific deliverables; Scope prevents scope creep into other meals; Parameters produce a scannable format perfect for a grocery store aisle.
When to Use CRISP
Best for everyday tasks that need clarity without complexity
Perfect For
Emails, announcements, reports, and any written deliverable where tone, audience, and format matter — CRISP ensures nothing gets lost in translation.
Blog posts, marketing copy, social media content, and documentation — where you need the AI to match a specific voice, audience, and length.
CRISP’s memorable acronym makes it the ideal first framework for anyone learning prompt engineering — easy to teach, easy to remember, immediately effective.
Meeting agendas, project outlines, checklists, and schedules — any structured output where clear boundaries prevent scope creep.
Skip It When
If your task requires the AI to reason through multiple steps, chain logic, or iterate — frameworks like Chain-of-Thought or ReAct are better suited.
For straightforward factual lookups or one-line questions — “What’s the capital of France?” — CRISP adds unnecessary overhead.
When you’re brainstorming or exploring ideas without a fixed goal — a conversational back-and-forth approach like Flipped Interaction may serve you better.
Use Cases
Where CRISP delivers the most value
Email Drafting
Professional correspondence, company announcements, follow-up messages, and client communications with the right tone and format every time.
Content Writing
Blog posts, marketing copy, product descriptions, and social media content where voice, audience, and length specifications drive quality.
Project Planning
Meeting agendas, project outlines, sprint plans, and milestone checklists with clear boundaries and actionable structure.
Team Communication
Presentations, talking points, stakeholder updates, and internal messaging where audience awareness and tone are critical.
Research Summaries
Topic overviews, competitive analyses, literature reviews, and briefing documents with clearly scoped depth and output format.
Technical Documentation
API guides, README files, onboarding docs, and knowledge base articles where technical accuracy and audience-appropriate language are essential.
Where CRISP Fits
CRISP bridges informal prompting and advanced structured frameworks
CRISP is designed as a foundation. Once you’re comfortable with the five elements, you can graduate to CRISPE (which adds Persona and Evaluation) or COSTAR (which adds explicit Audience and Style dimensions). The mental model is the same — CRISP just gets you started with the most essential components so you build good habits before adding complexity.
Related Techniques & Frameworks
Explore frameworks that extend or complement CRISP
Build Better Prompts
Practice the CRISP framework interactively with our Prompt Builder or analyze your existing prompts to see which elements you’re missing.