Lesson 22 of 30

System prompts: separate what stays from what changes

A prompt that repeats its rules every turn pays the same tax twice: once to write the rules, once to have the model re-read them alongside whatever's actually new.

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One change, same AI.

Your prompt
Always cite your sources. Never use exclamation marks. Keep answers under 200 words. Summarise your task.
A stronger version
System prompt: Always cite your sources. Never use exclamation marks. Keep answers under 200 words.
Per-turn ask: Summarise your task.

Here is the test: read your system prompt line by line and ask, would this be false on some future turn?

Try it on your own work.

Prompting Wizard is an open source prompting coach for Claude Code, Codex, ChatGPT and Claude, built around your own work. Thirty guided lessons, at your own pace.

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