MindfulAI™ Masterclass Series

The CO-STAR Exercise

Build one real prompt, one element at a time. By the end you'll have a finished, ready-to-use CO-STAR prompt you can copy straight into any GenAI tool.
C

Context

The background the model needs to do this well

What's the situation? What does the model need to know before it can help, that it wouldn't otherwise guess?

Background, situation, or constraints relevant to the task.

O

Objective

The actual goal of the output

Be specific about what you want the model to produce, not just the topic.

What should the model actually do?

S

Style

The writing style to follow

Style is about form, not feeling. Think: whose writing would this sound like?

A writing style, structure, or reference point to follow.

T

Tone

The emotional register

Tone is the feeling behind the words. Style and tone are easy to confuse, this is where most prompts get vague.

How should it feel to read?

A

Audience

Who is actually going to read this

Naming the reader shapes vocabulary, assumed knowledge, and formality more than almost anything else.

Who is this for?

R

Response

The format of the output

This is the element people skip most, and the one that saves the most rework.

Length, structure, or format of the output.

✓

Your CO-STAR Prompt

Assembled from what you just wrote

Here's your six elements, combined into one finished prompt. Copy it and try it in any GenAI tool.

Ready To Use

Fill in the six elements to see your prompt here.
Reflect Which element was hardest to write? That's usually the one you've been leaving out of prompts without realizing it.