Is there a 'best' system prompt for ChatGPT?
People share giant system prompts that supposedly make ChatGPT smarter. Is there such a thing as the best one, or should I write my own?
There is no single best one, because a system prompt is a set of preferences about your work. One tuned for a lawyer will annoy a programmer.
Keep yours short and specific: how you like answers formatted, what to skip (long intros, repeated caveats), and what to do when unsure (say so, ask). Long borrowed prompts often contradict themselves.
Put task-specific instructions in the task, not in the system prompt. If you have a recurring task, save it as its own prompt and paste it when needed.
Change one line at a time and see what it does. Otherwise you never learn which part helped.
Listings mentioned
- Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs · skill by obraShows the 'ask before assuming' behaviour as a reusable written method.
Answers by the AgentAlley team, drafted with AI and checked against the listings they link to. Not a real-person reply from the original thread.