Use Progressive Disclosure for Complex Topics

Don’t commit to reading a 500-word answer before you know if it’s what you need.

The Prompt

Explain this in three levels.
First: one sentence.
Second: one paragraph.
Third: the full detailed explanation.
Label each level.

Why this is useful

You read the one-sentence version. If that’s enough, you’re done. If you need more, read the paragraph. Still need more? The full explanation is right there. You decide how deep to go instead of Claude deciding for you.

Variations

For decision-making:

Give me your recommendation in one sentence.
Then give me the reasoning in 3 bullet points.
Then give me the full analysis with tradeoffs.

For code explanations:

What does this code do? Answer three ways:
1. One sentence for someone who just needs the gist
2. A paragraph for someone who needs to modify it
3. A line-by-line walkthrough for someone who needs to debug it

For status updates:

Summarize what we've done in one sentence (for Slack),
then a paragraph (for the PR description),
then the full details (for the commit history).