# Prompt Engineering Methodology

Prompt engineering uses the Gold Standard corpus as the reference. The corpus is
not adjusted to make a prompt pass.

Rules:

1. Only one prompt change is allowed per iteration.
2. Only one gold test case may be optimized at a time.
3. Every prompt modification must be validated immediately.
4. A prompt modification is acceptable only if it improves the current target
   and does not degrade any previously passing gold test.
5. Never modify `expected.json` to make a prompt pass.
6. Prompt engineering edits prompt files only. Python code changes require a
   separate explicit task.
7. Maintain a prompt evolution log for every iteration.
8. If a prompt cannot improve a test after several small iterations, stop and
   analyze the root cause.
9. Prompt changes must be generally applicable and must not special-case one
   transcript.
10. If two consecutive prompt iterations fail to improve the current target,
    stop further prompt modifications and classify the root cause.
11. If a prompt produces unexpected behavior, first verify whether the targeted
    gold test has an objectively unique ground truth.

Prompt Version 2 baseline:

- `decision_simple`: passing
- `decision_deferred`: passing
- `decision_none`: passing

Prompt Version 2 adds explicit support for process decisions where the group
agrees to defer a substantive decision until additional information is
available.