---
title: "Making a model useful"
description: "The practical toolbox for making a base model useful: prompt engineering, retrieval to ground answers in your data, caching (including vector-similarity ca"
canonical_url: "https://fanout.sh/ai-engineering/lessons/llm-improvements"
md_url: "https://fanout.sh/ai-engineering/lessons/llm-improvements.md"
access: "public"
---

# Making a model useful

The practical toolbox for making a base model useful: prompt engineering, retrieval to ground answers in your data, caching (including vector-similarity ca

## Public overview

The practical toolbox for making a base model useful: prompt engineering, retrieval to ground answers in your data, caching (including vector-similarity caches for repeated queries), and small/local models where latency or cost rules out frontier APIs. A map of the levers before you ever consider fine-tuning.

---
This representation contains public Fanout content only. Protected Pro lessons, account data, billing, checkout, and pricing are not included.

Browse the public content map: https://fanout.sh/sitemap.md