System Prompt
A high-priority instruction that sets the model's role, tone and constraints for the whole conversation.
/ quick answer
The system prompt sits above user turns and defines the agent's identity, capabilities and hard rules. Well-designed system prompts encode role, output format, refusal policy and available tools. A high-priority instruction that sets the model's role, tone and constraints for the whole conversation.
/ frequently asked
What is System Prompt?
The system prompt sits above user turns and defines the agent's identity, capabilities and hard rules. Well-designed system prompts encode role, output format, refusal policy and available tools.
What is an example of System Prompt?
'You are a senior finance analyst. Respond only in Markdown tables. Never quote figures older than 12 months. If unsure, say so.'.
Why does System Prompt matter?
A high-priority instruction that sets the model's role, tone and constraints for the whole conversation.
What should I learn after System Prompt?
Open the related workflows and prompts further down this page: they show how this idea is applied in a real task, step by step.
/ continue exploring
Related concepts
The vocabulary this page depends on.
- →Prompt Chaining
Pipelining LLM calls where each step's output feeds the next.
- →Few-Shot Prompting
Showing the model 2–5 examples of the task inside the prompt so it mirrors the pattern.
- →Prompt Template
A reusable prompt with named variables filled at runtime.
- →Chain-of-Thought Prompting
Instructing a model to think step by step before answering.
Related workflows
Turn this into a repeatable process.
- →Build an Internal Knowledge Bot
Ship a Slack bot that answers questions from your company docs.
- →How to Build an AI Content System
A repeatable pipeline that turns one input into publish-ready content across every channel.
Related prompts
Reusable prompts for this job.
- →Tool Calling Specification Prompt
Design safe tool schemas before connecting an AI model to real actions.
- →Prompt Improver Prompt
Iterate a weak prompt into a strong one using best practices.
- →JSON Extractor Prompt
Extract structured JSON from any unstructured text.
- →AI System Threat Model Prompt
Produces a concrete threat model for an AI system with tool access.