5C Prompt Contracts: A Minimalist, Creative-Friendly, Token-Efficient Design Framework for Individual and SME LLM Usage

Fuente: arXiv
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1. Verfasser: Ari, Ugur
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Ari, Ugur
author_facet Ari, Ugur
contents The progression from traditional prompt engineering to a more rigorous discipline of prompt design marks a pivotal shift in human-LLM interaction. As Large Language Models (LLMs) become increasingly embedded in mission-critical applications, there emerges a pressing need for frameworks that are not only explicit and systematic but also minimal enough to remain practical and broadly accessible. While many existing approaches address prompt structuring through elaborate Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) or multi-layered templates, such methods can impose significant token and cognitive overhead, potentially constraining the model's creative capacity. In this context, we propose the 5C Prompt Contract, a framework that distills prompt design into five intuitive components: Character, Cause, Constraint, Contingency, and Calibration. This minimal cognitive schema explicitly integrates fallback and output optimization directives, fostering reliable, interpretable, and creatively flexible AI interactions. Experimental results demonstrate that the 5C framework consistently achieves superior input token efficiency while maintaining rich and consistent outputs across diverse LLM architectures (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, and Gemini), making it particularly suited for individuals and Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with limited AI engineering resources.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_07045
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle 5C Prompt Contracts: A Minimalist, Creative-Friendly, Token-Efficient Design Framework for Individual and SME LLM Usage
Ari, Ugur
Software Engineering
Social and Information Networks
68T05
I.2.7; I.2.6
The progression from traditional prompt engineering to a more rigorous discipline of prompt design marks a pivotal shift in human-LLM interaction. As Large Language Models (LLMs) become increasingly embedded in mission-critical applications, there emerges a pressing need for frameworks that are not only explicit and systematic but also minimal enough to remain practical and broadly accessible. While many existing approaches address prompt structuring through elaborate Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) or multi-layered templates, such methods can impose significant token and cognitive overhead, potentially constraining the model's creative capacity. In this context, we propose the 5C Prompt Contract, a framework that distills prompt design into five intuitive components: Character, Cause, Constraint, Contingency, and Calibration. This minimal cognitive schema explicitly integrates fallback and output optimization directives, fostering reliable, interpretable, and creatively flexible AI interactions. Experimental results demonstrate that the 5C framework consistently achieves superior input token efficiency while maintaining rich and consistent outputs across diverse LLM architectures (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, and Gemini), making it particularly suited for individuals and Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with limited AI engineering resources.
title 5C Prompt Contracts: A Minimalist, Creative-Friendly, Token-Efficient Design Framework for Individual and SME LLM Usage
topic Software Engineering
Social and Information Networks
68T05
I.2.7; I.2.6
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.07045