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14 Apr 2026

Prompt engineering for backend engineers

How to think about context, constraints, and output shaping when building with LLM APIs.

Backend engineers are good at one thing that makes them unusually suited to working with LLMs: thinking about inputs and outputs as a contract.

A prompt is a function signature. The model is a black box with a well-documented surface area. If you approach it that way — rather than as a magic oracle — the results get a lot more predictable.