system prompt

[ SIS-tuhm prompt ]noun

Standing instructions that apply to every message in a conversation, sitting behind whatever you type.

Explanation

Where the role, the rules and the hard nos live. Every word of it gets paid for on every single message, which is a good reason to edit it like a contract.

Related words

• constraint block — The part of your prompt that says what the AI is not allowed to do: which tools, which files, which lines it must not cross.
• agent memory — What an AI keeps hold of about you and your project after the current conversation ends.

Prompts that deal with it

• Write the Rules File — The standing rules, taken from your actual project