Lesson 005Field guide · Prompting 101
Prompt Templates
Build reusable fill-in-the-blank prompts for your recurring tasks.
You'll learn
- How to spot a task worth templating
- How [BRACKETED] placeholders turn one good prompt into a reusable tool
- What to lock in a template and what to leave blank
- Where to keep templates so you actually reuse them
- How to build your own first template
01Section
The third time you type it
By now you've done the hard part at least once: written a prompt, repaired it, added constraints, and landed on a version that works. Then the same task comes back next week — and you retype the prompt from memory, slightly worse, and repair it all over again.
That rework is the most avoidable waste in everyday AI use. The fix is a template.
Plain-language definition
Prompt template — a prompt you've already made good, with the parts that change swapped for fill-in-the-blank placeholders. You write it once and reuse it every time the task comes back.
The third-time rule
First time, you write the prompt. Second time, you notice you're rewriting it. The third time you type the same kind of prompt — stop and template it.
- It recurs: The task shows up weekly or monthly, not once a year.
- Same shape, different details: Each instance is the same request with different specifics.
- You've already solved it once: A past prompt produced a result you were happy with.
- The output has a home: It goes to the same place each time — an email, a doc, a post.
Checkpoint
02Section
[BRACKETS] mark what changes
The convention is simple: square brackets mark the blanks, and everything outside them stays fixed. It's the same convention every prompt in the Mattie Labs Prompt Library uses, so anything you learn here transfers directly.
The design decision that makes or breaks a template is what goes inside the brackets. Lock in the hard-won parts — the role, the format, the constraints you added after bad outputs. Bracket only the details that genuinely change between uses.
A working template
Act as a plain-spoken editor. Rewrite the update below for [AUDIENCE — e.g. my team, a client, my boss]. Keep every fact and date, cut everything else. Under [LENGTH] words, no jargon, no filler openings. Update: [PASTE YOUR ROUGH UPDATE]
Notice the split: the role, the keep-every-fact rule, and the no-jargon constraint are locked — they were right last time and they'll be right next time. Only the audience, the length, and the material itself are blanks. And each bracket carries a short hint, so future-you doesn't have to remember what goes there.
Checkpoint
03Section
From good prompt to template
Templates aren't written from a blank page — they're promoted from prompts that already worked. The process takes about five minutes:
Start from a winner: Find a prompt that produced a result you actually used. That's your raw material.
Compare two uses: What did you change between last time and this time? Those changes are your blanks.
Bracket exactly those parts: Swap each changing detail for a [BRACKET — with a short hint inside]. Leave everything else untouched.
Test-fill it twice: Fill it in for two different real instances. If a blank got the same value both times, unbracket it and lock it in.
If you don't have a winner yet for a recurring task, start from this general-purpose skeleton and tighten it as you use it:
Universal template skeleton
Act as [ROLE — the perspective you want]. [TASK — precise verb + deliverable] for [AUDIENCE — who this is for]. Context: [WHAT THE AI CAN'T KNOW — the situation and the goal]. Input: [PASTE YOUR MATERIAL, IF ANY]. Format: [SHAPE — length and structure]. Rules: [CONSTRAINTS — tone, things to avoid].
Checkpoint
04Section
Where to keep them
A template you can't find is a prompt you'll retype. The right home isn't a special app — it's wherever you already keep notes: a doc, a notes app, a pinned message to yourself. The test is whether you'll have it open, or one search away, when the task shows up.
Name templates by task, not cleverly: "Weekly update — client version" beats "Super Editor v2." Six months from now, the name is all you'll remember.
Key takeaway
Your template collection becomes your personal prompt library — every entry a task you've already figured out, waiting to be filled in instead of re-solved.
Pause and think: What have you asked an AI to do more than once this month? That's your first template.
Checkpoint
Prompt exercise
Build your first template
This prompt turns the AI into your template-building partner: it interviews you about a task you repeat, then drafts the template with you. Copy it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, or whichever AI tool you have access to — the website doesn't run AI itself. When you're happy with the result, save the finished template somewhere you'll find it again.
Help me build a reusable prompt template. Ask me one question at a time: first, what task I do repeatedly with AI; then who the output is for; then what a good result looks like; then what usually annoys me about the outputs I get. After my answers, draft a fill-in-the-blank prompt template that locks in the role, the format, and the rules, and uses [BRACKETED PLACEHOLDERS — with a short hint inside each] only for the details that change each time. Then show me the template filled in with realistic example details, and ask me what to adjust.
Reflection: Test your new template on a real instance of the task this week. Which blank did you fill fastest — and which bracket needs a better hint?
Quick check
3 quick questions — no pressure
There's no pass or fail here. Answer them all, and we'll show you the answers either way.