Reference: 2 of 12
Prompt Chain Versus One Prompt
A prompt chain is a set of prompts you run in order, passing each answer into the next one. One prompt asks for the whole job at once, which suits a short job and hides which part went wrong in a long one.
One big prompt
One prompt does every part at once. When the answer is wrong, nothing tells you which part went wrong.
In a Real Template
In this template, step 2 asks for the actions and is handed the decisions that step 1 found. The chain file leaves a slot for you to paste step 1’s answer into.
Decisions already listed:{{steps.pull}}
[PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 1 (Pull out decisions)]What to notice: The second step never has to guess what the first one found: it is given the list. In the chain you do the pasting; the n8n file and the Claude skill carry the answer across for you.
From the template Turn meeting notes into decisions and actions.
Easy to Mix Up
- An AI workflowA chain is how you run a workflow by hand, one prompt after another. A workflow also has its checks and the fixed shape of each hand-off.
- A long prompt with a list of jobsFive jobs in one prompt is still one prompt: one answer comes back, and it can only be checked as a whole.
- A hand-offThe shape of what passes from one prompt to the next. A chain has hand-offs; the hand-off is not the chain.