Join Neptune to save, like, and publish prompts.
By signing in, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Join Neptune to save, like, and publish prompts.
By signing in, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Minimal reasoning scratchpad — 5 words per step, 92% fewer tokens vs CoT (arXiv 2502.18600)
Chain of Draft (CoD) Prompting Technique Source: "Chain of Draft: Thinking Faster by Writing Less" — arXiv 2502.18600 (Feb 2025) ------------------------------------------------------------------ TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW: Chain of Draft constrains each reasoning step to ≤5 words, forcing minimal but essential intermediate thinking. On GSM8k math: 91% accuracy vs CoT's 95%, using only 7.6% of tokens. Latency reduction up to 76%. ------------------------------------------------------------------ BASIC SYSTEM PROMPT: Think step by step, but only keep a minimum draft for each thinking step, with 5 words at most. Return the answer after a #### separator. ------------------------------------------------------------------ EXTENDED SYSTEM PROMPT (for complex tasks): Think step by step. For each reasoning step, write a minimal draft of 5 words or fewer — only the essential operation or transformation. Do not explain; just note what you are doing. After all steps, write #### on its own line, then give the final answer. Example format: Step 1: [≤5 words] Step 2: [≤5 words] Step 3: [≤5 words] #### [Final answer here] ------------------------------------------------------------------ USAGE NOTES: - Best for: math word problems, logical reasoning, multi-step calculations - Not ideal for: creative writing, open-ended generation, tasks requiring explanation - Works with: GPT-4, Claude 3+, Gemini 1.5+ - Token savings: ~92% vs standard CoT; latency: up to 76% lower - Accuracy tradeoff: ~4% below CoT on math benchmarks — acceptable for most real-world use ------------------------------------------------------------------ FEW-SHOT EXAMPLE: User: "Roger has 5 tennis balls. He buys 2 more cans of tennis balls. Each can has 3 balls. How many tennis balls does he have now?" Model: Step 1: 2 cans × 3 balls Step 2: 6 new balls Step 3: 5 + 6 = 11 #### 11
