Top ChatGPT prompts for engineers

Engineers focus on building, fixing, and optimizing systems. They care about writing clean code, solving technical problems efficiently, and minimizing errors or downtime. ChatGPT can help by generating code snippets, explaining complex concepts, reviewing logic, writing documentation, and speeding up repetitive tasks so engineers can focus on delivering quality work faster.

Research & benchmarking

Use ChatGPT to provide comparative analysis of technology, tools and industry practices.

Use cases	Prompt
Evaluating cloud providers for migration	I am an infrastructure engineer evaluating cloud migration options. Context: We are moving from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud for a fintech backend system. Output: Compare AWS, GCP, and Azure on scalability, pricing, compliance, and developer tools. Please include a citation.
Research framework for real-time applications	I'm building a real-time collaboration tool. Context: We need low latency and scalability. Output: Compare leading platforms (e.g. SignalR, Socket.io, WebRTC) with use cases, pros/cons, and current usage scenarios of other SaaS companies. Include sources.
Compare observation tools	Compare top observation tools. Context: We want to move from basic logging to full stack monitoring. Output: Create a table comparing features, pricing, integrations for Datadog, New Relic, Prometheus, and OpenTelemetry. Include sources.
Analyzing AI/ML trends in logistics	I am researching the application of AI/ML to logistics systems. Context: Our company is looking into integrating predictive routing. Output: 5-paragraph summary of current trends, vendors, and deployment models. Include citations and links.
Investigate compliance best practices	Research GDPR/CCPA compliance best practices so we can help kick-start discussions with your legal team. Context: Our app stores sensitive user data in the EU and US. Output: Compliance checklist with citations, organized by regulation. Includes links to documentation and regulations.

Technical & Documentation Review

Use ChatGPT for technical documentation, design reviews, and planning. Use Canvas for real-time editing.

Use cases	Prompt
Review system design documentation	I have drafted the technical design document for [insert project or feature]. Please review it for clarity, architectural soundness, and completeness. Please highlight any gaps or questions that reviewers may have.
Documentation of internal API behavior	I need to document how this internal API works for other developers. Here is the relevant code, schema, and usage examples: [insert documentation]. Create clear documentation that includes endpoints, input/output formats, and expected behavior.
Draft instructions for duty engineers	I need to create a manual for the engineers who support [insert system]. Please draft a manual that includes sections on system overview, common warnings, diagnostic steps, and upgrade procedures.
Draft hiring guide for new employees	I need to write an onboarding guide for new engineers joining [add team]. Create a draft with sections for required tools, setting up access, overview of the codebase, and first tasks. Make it easy for newbies to walk through.
Write JIRA tickets from technical specifications	Based on this specification for [insert task or feature], write a JIRA ticket that includes the problem statement, context, goals, acceptance criteria, and technical notes for implementation.

Debugging & Optimization

ChatGPT can help diagnose, troubleshoot, and improve system performance and reliability.

Use cases	Prompt
Debugging systems during production	A live system is experiencing occasional issues and we're having trouble determining the root cause. Based on the following logs, metrics, and recent changes: [insert context], please help identify the most likely causes and recommend next steps to resolve.
Analyze performance bottlenecks	Our service is experiencing latency and degraded performance during peak usage times. Here are the relevant metrics, logs, and traces: [insert context]. Please help us identify bottlenecks and suggest specific optimizations.
Data transmission error analysis	A critical data pipeline failed during yesterday's run. Below are the logs, data volume trends, and error results: [insert context]. Analyze what likely went wrong and make recommendations to prevent recurrence.
Suggestions for improving visibility	We are currently using [insert tool] to monitor [insert service]. Please review our observability setup and suggest improvements across metrics, logging, alerting, and dashboards to improve our ability to detect and debug issues.
Make exceptions to testing	We are preparing test cases for [insert feature/system]. Think about potential exceptions and error scenarios that standard testing might not cover, including unusual user input, system state changes, and concurrency issues.

Data analysis and reporting

ChatGPT supports analyzing data sets, identifying trends, and generating visual reports.

Use cases	Prompt
Identify trends in product usage logs	Analyze this CSV file of product usage logs. Context: We want to identify usage trends over time and across user segments. Output: Summary stats + line or bar charts highlighting key trends.
Visualizing system failure rates over time	Plot the error rate over time from this dataset. Context: This dataset contains application logs from the last month. Output: Time series graph with annotations for error spikes and a brief explanation.
Performance test results analysis	Analyze this set of performance test results. Context: Compare two versions of our back-end service. Output: Side-by-side comparison chart + text summary of improvements or regressions.
Prioritize bugs based on impact	Analyze this bug report dataset. Context: Each row includes severity, frequency, and affected users. Output: A prioritized list of top bugs with a graph showing frequency vs. severity.
Summary of feedback from user survey	Summary of this CSV file of user feedback. Context: File includes open-text ratings and responses from a recent survey. Output: Key themes, sentiment scores, and a graph showing the distribution of ratings.

System architecture & visualization

ChatGPT can assist in creating diagrams, flowcharts, and visual representations of complex systems and processes.

Use cases	Prompt
Create component diagram	I need to visualize the architecture of [insert system or service]. Create a component diagram showing key services, data flows, and third-party integrations. Use clear labels and group components logically.
Visualize the system architecture	Create a system architecture image. Context: This is a microservices based e-commerce platform with payment, catalog, and user profile services. Output: Diagram with labeled services and data flow arrows.
Explain the CI/CD process to stakeholders	Create a visual that explains our CI/CD process. Context: This visual is for presentation to business stakeholders. Output: A diagram showing the development → build → test → deployment steps with basic icons and a brief description.
Model data flow in ML pipeline	Create a visualization showing the flow of data in a Machine Learning pipeline. Context: We collect raw user data, clean it, train a model, and make predictions. Output: A labeled data flow diagram from raw data to inference.
Diagram of customer interaction chain with brand, product/service through application	Create a flowchart of customer interactions with your brand, product/service through our mobile banking app. Context: Steps include registration, account linking, transactions, and support. Output: Visual diagram with steps, screens, and decision points.