Black Forest Labs publishes its own prompting guide for FLUX.2 [pro] and [max]. This sheet is that guide, cut down to what you need before you type.
- Formula: Subject + Action + Style + Context. That is BFL's own framework, word for word.
- Put the important part first. BFL: “FLUX.2 pays more attention to what comes first.”
- 30–80 words is the default. BFL calls that length “Usually ideal for most projects”. Go shorter for quick ideas, longer only for complex scenes.
- There is no negative prompt. BFL: “FLUX.2 does not support negative prompts.”
- Tie every hex colour to an object. A stray colour code “may produce inconsistent results”.
Every rule on this sheet is quoted from the vendor's own published documentation, linked where it is used.
The formula
Black Forest Labs, FLUX.2 prompting guide, read at source 16 Sep 2026: “Subject + Action + Style + Context”.
Template:
[main subject, described specifically] [what it is doing] [style / aesthetic] [setting, lighting, time, mood]
Worked example:
A ceramicist in her fifties centring clay on a wheel, documentary photography, north-facing studio window at dusk, flour-dusted apron, shallow depth of field
Breakdown — what each part does
Subject
BFL: “The main focus (person, object, character)”. Put it first — BFL's priority order starts with the main subject, then the key action, then style, then context.
Action
BFL: “What the subject is doing or their pose”. A still noun gives the model nothing to compose around.
Style
BFL: “Artistic approach, medium, or aesthetic”. Pick one direction.
Context
BFL: “Setting, lighting, time, mood, or atmospheric conditions”. This is what makes the image specific rather than stock.
Does it take a negative prompt?
Black Forest Labs, FLUX.2 prompting guide, read at source 16 Sep 2026: “FLUX.2 does not support negative prompts. Focus on describing what you want, not what you don’t want.”
So every exclusion has to become something present. Not "no plastic skin" — write "visible pores, uneven natural skin tone". You are not blocking the default; you are replacing it with something more specific.
On FLUX.2, every "no" has to become a "yes". Name what should be in the frame, most important thing first.
What not to do
BFL also documents a structured JSON prompt for production work. Its example fields include scene, subjects, style, color_palette, lighting, mood, background, composition and camera.
The rules above are for FLUX.2 [pro] and [max]. The older open models were trained differently. BFL's model cards: FLUX.1 [dev] was “Trained using guidance distillation”; FLUX.1 [schnell] was “Trained using latent adversarial diffusion distillation” and runs “in only 1 to 4 steps”. An earlier version of this sheet called both of them guidance-distilled and said they run at CFG 1; the model cards support neither claim for [schnell], and neither card mentions CFG 1.
Free or paid? What the free plan allows, who owns the output, and when you need to pay: free vs paid AI image, video and music tools.
Where this model sits among the others: which models take a negative prompt, and what each vendor publishes as its formula.
Rewriting exclusions as descriptions is the whole subject of the negatives page.
The checklist
Before you send it:
Black Forest Labs, FLUX.2 [pro] & [max] prompting guide · FLUX.1 [dev] model card · FLUX.1 [schnell] model card All read at source on 16 Sep 2026.
Model versions and vendor documentation both move. Re-read the source before relying on a specific number.
Every other sheet in this set: all model cheat sheets.