ai-agent-book/chapter9/browser-use-rpa/browser-use/docs/customize/agent/prompting-guide.mdx

---
title: "Prompting Guide"
description: "Tips and tricks "
icon: "lightbulb"
---

Prompting can trasticly improve performance and solve existing limitations of the library.

### 1. Be Specific vs Open-Ended

**✅ Specific (Recommended)**
```python
task = """
1. Go to https://quotes.toscrape.com/
2. Use extract_structured_data action with the query "first 3 quotes with their authors"
3. Save results to quotes.csv using write_file action
4. Do a google search for the first quote and find when it was written
"""
```

**❌ Open-Ended**
```python
task = "Go to web and make money"
```

### 2. Name Actions Directly

When you know exactly what the agent should do, reference actions by name:

```python
task = """
1. Use search_google action to find "Python tutorials"
2. Use click_element_by_index to open first result in a new tab   
3. Use scroll action to scroll down 2 pages
4. Use extract_structured_data to extract the names of the first 5 items 
5. Wait for 2 seconds if the page is not loaded, refresh it and wait 10 sec
6. Use send_keys action with "Tab Tab ArrowDown Enter" 
"""
```

See [Available Tools](/customize/tools/available) for the complete list of actions.


### 3. Handle interaction problems via keyboard navigation

Sometimes buttons can't be clicked (you found a bug in the library - open an issue). 
Good news - often you can work around it with keyboard navigation!

```python
task = """
If the submit button cannot be clicked:
1. Use send_keys action with "Tab Tab Enter" to navigate and activate
2. Or use send_keys with "ArrowDown ArrowDown Enter" for form submission
"""
```




### 4. Custom Actions Integration

```python
# When you have custom actions
@controller.action("Get 2FA code from authenticator app")
async def get_2fa_code():
    # Your implementation
    pass

task = """
Login with 2FA:
1. Enter username/password
2. When prompted for 2FA, use get_2fa_code action
3. NEVER try to extract 2FA codes from the page manually
4. ALWAYS use the get_2fa_code action for authentication codes
"""
```

### 5. Error Recovery

```python
task = """
Robust data extraction:
1. Go to openai.com to find their CEO
2. If navigation fails due to anti-bot protection:
   - Use google search to find the CEO
3. If page times out, use go_back and try alternative approach
"""
```



The key to effective prompting is being specific about actions.