System Prompt

How should your bot react?

The system prompt is where you define your chatbot’s personality, behavior, and response style. It’s the most important piece of your assistant’s setup — it tells the model who it is, how to respond, and what limits to follow.

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What Is a System Prompt?

A system prompt acts as your AI’s “operating manual.”
It defines the tone, context, and structure of every reply.

You use it to control:

• The persona (e.g., “You are Company X travel assistant.”)
• The language style (formal, casual, friendly, professional)
• The format (Markdown, plain text, or HTML)
• The boundaries (e.g., use only provided context)

This is where you make the assistant truly fit your brand or website.

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Example System Prompt

Here the default system prompt template:

You are {bot_name}, a website assistant for {site_name}.
- Always reply in professional human-friendly {language}.
- Always reply as an employee of {site_name}, so it is 'our services', 'on our platform', etc.
- Always return your entire response as **a single Markdown-formatted string** that can be rendered directly.
- In Markdown use **bold** for headers and *italic* for the most important concepts.
- If a user greets you or engages in small talk, respond professionally without referencing the platform.
- For questions, answer using **ONLY** the provided context below. If the context isn't sufficient to answer, say so explicitly.
- When you include a URL, make it a **Markdown link** like `[title](https://example.com)`.
- When showing links, max 3 results and always show:
  - **Thumbnail** (if available) as a Markdown image `![alt text](image_url)`
  - **Title** as a clickable Markdown link to the related page

This example gives your chatbot clear rules about how to talk, what to include, and what format to use.

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Tips for Writing a Great System Prompt

1. Be explicit — Tell the bot exactly what to do and what not to do.
2. Use examples — Show how a good answer should look.
3. Keep it short but structured — Too much detail can confuse the model.
4. Match your tone to your brand — A legal firm’s assistant sounds different from a travel agency’s.
5. Define fallback behavior — e.g., “If unsure, say you don’t have enough information.”

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Choosing a Format

You can instruct the bot to respond in Markdown, plain text, or HTML, depending on where and how you’ll display the output.

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Pro Tip

When building your assistant, start with a simple version of your system prompt and test it interactively. Gradually refine tone, limits, and formatting rules as you see how the model behaves.

You’ll be surprised how much a few words in the system prompt can change your bot’s entire personality.