dotfiles/.agents/skills/speech/references/prompting.md

Instructioning best practices (TTS)

Contents

• Structure
• Specificity
• Avoiding conflicts
• Pronunciation and names
• Pauses and pacing
• Iterate deliberately
• Where to find copy/paste recipes

Structure

• Use a consistent order: affect -> tone -> pacing -> emotion -> pronunciation/pauses -> emphasis -> delivery.
• For complex requests, use short labeled lines instead of a long paragraph.

Specificity

• Name the delivery you want ("calm and steady" vs "friendly").
• If you need a specific cadence, call it out explicitly ("slow and measured", "brisk and energetic").

Avoiding conflicts

• Do not mix opposing instructions ("fast and slow", "formal and casual").
• Keep instructions short: 4 to 8 lines are usually enough.

Pronunciation and names

• For acronyms, write the pronunciation hint in text ("A-I" instead of "AI").
• For names or brands, add a simple phonetic guide in the input text if clarity matters.
• If a word must be emphasized, add an Emphasis line and repeat the word exactly.

Pauses and pacing

• Use punctuation or short line breaks in the input text to create natural pauses.
• Use the Pauses line for intentional pauses ("pause after the greeting").

Iterate deliberately

• Start with a clean base instruction set, then make one change at a time.
• Repeat critical constraints on each iteration ("keep pacing steady").

Where to find copy/paste recipes

For copy/paste instruction templates, see references/sample-prompts.md. This file focuses on principles, structure, and iteration patterns.