AI Glossary

System prompt

Instructions given to a model ahead of a conversation, usually by the maker of the app, that set its role, rules and tone. They are usually not shown to the person chatting, though that is the app's choice rather than a guarantee.

See also

  • Prompt

    The input given to an AI model, usually written instructions or a question, together with any text, files or images attached to it.

  • Prompt engineering

    Writing and refining prompts to get better and more reliable results from a model, for example by giving clear instructions, examples or a required format.

  • Context window

    The amount of input and output a model can consider at one time, counted in tokens: the conversation so far, any documents, images or other inputs, and the reply it is writing.

Source: Claude Platform documentation, Prompting best practices (system prompts) (opens in a new tab)

Cite this term.

CC BY 4.0, attribution required.

This term

Orbyt Labs, System prompt (AI Glossary), Oct 18, 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-collective/glossary/system-prompt

The dataset (JSON)

Orbyt Labs Glossaries (Oct 19, 2026), https://www.orbytlabs.ai/glossary#dataset

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