Overview
OpenAI has published a prompting guide for GPT-5 emphasizing practical techniques. The document describes GPT-5 as the organization’s “newest flagship model” and focuses on tactics to improve outputs in areas such as agentic task performance, instruction adherence, and coding workflows. The guide is available in the OpenAI Cookbook at https://cookbook.openai.com/examples/gpt-5/gpt-5_prompting_guide?utm_source=tldrai.
The authors state that GPT-5 performs well “out of the box” across varied domains, positioning the guide as a set of methods to further improve results. No specific benchmarks, datasets, or evaluation metrics are cited in the excerpt provided.
What the guide covers
The guidance centers on four themes:
- Improving agentic task performance: Suggestions target scenarios where models execute multi-step or tool-using workflows, with a focus on steering behaviors toward task completion.
- Ensuring instruction adherence: The document discusses strategies to increase compliance with directives, aiming to reduce drift from specified tasks.
- Making use of new API features: The guide references “newly” available API capabilities but does not enumerate them in the provided text.
- Optimizing coding for frontend and software engineering: Recommendations aim to refine prompts for code generation and editing, particularly for web and application development tasks.
The guide also cites insights from Cursor, an AI code editor, describing its prompt-tuning work with GPT-5. No implementation details for Cursor’s methods are included in the excerpt.
Tools and reported outcomes
OpenAI links a companion prompt optimizer tool at https://platform.openai.com/chat/edit?optimize=true. The tool is presented as a way to refine prompts aligned with the guide’s recommendations.
The authors report “significant gains” from applying the practices outlined and from adopting their “canonical tools.” The excerpt does not provide quantitative measures or examples to substantiate the claim. It also emphasizes that prompting remains context-dependent and recommends iterative experimentation rather than fixed templates.
Scope and limits
The guide positions itself as a practical resource for enhancing GPT-5’s behavior in real tasks. It does not specify model configuration details, pricing, availability, or API access requirements. References to “new API features” and agentic workflows indicate focus areas, but the excerpt does not detail the mechanics, tool schemas, or integration patterns involved.
How to access
- GPT-5 prompting guide: https://cookbook.openai.com/examples/gpt-5/gpt-5_prompting_guide?utm_source=tldrai
- Prompt optimizer tool: https://platform.openai.com/chat/edit?optimize=true
TL;DR
- OpenAI has published a GPT-5 prompting guide focused on:
- Agentic task performance, instruction adherence, and coding workflows
- Use of unspecified “new” API features
- Insights referencing Cursor’s GPT-5 prompt tuning
- A linked prompt optimizer tool is available for prompt refinement
- The guide reports “significant gains” from these practices but provides no metrics
- No pricing, API access details, or release timelines are disclosed in the excerpt
