Prompt gallery
Copy a card, swap the bracketed parts, send. The theory behind all of them is in prompt engineering, separated from the folklore.
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Cut an email in half
Rewrite the email below so it is half the length and keeps a warm, professional tone. The request must appear in the first two sentences. [paste your draft]
Length, tone and structure all named. Leave one out and the assistant guesses, and its guesses are duller than yours.
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The polite chase-up
Draft a polite chase-up email to [name] about [the thing you're waiting for]. We last spoke on [date]. Four sentences at most, and no apologising for asking.
The last line is there because assistants over-apologise on your behalf.
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Summary with the actions separated
Summarise the document below in five bullet points for someone who has not read it. Then list separately any deadlines, decisions, or actions it mentions. [paste the document]
Mixed together, actions get buried mid-bullet where nobody sees them.
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Ten minutes before the meeting
I have ten minutes before a meeting about the attached report. Give me a one-paragraph summary, then the figures I am most likely to be asked about, each with where it appears in the document.
Asking where each figure appears makes the answer checkable in the room.
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Explain it to smart-but-new
Explain [term or concept] to someone smart but new to the subject, in under 150 words, with one everyday analogy.
'Smart but new' stops the answer being either patronising or jargon-heavy.
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De-jargon a paragraph
Explain what this actually means in plain terms: [paste the jargon-heavy text]. Assume I understand the basics of my own job, just not this vocabulary.
Names the reader honestly: capable, but new to this vocabulary.
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Notes into an agenda
Turn these rough notes into an agenda for a 45-minute meeting, with a time slot and an owner for each item, and the most contentious item first. [paste your notes]
Contentious-first stops the hard item landing in the final five minutes.
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Scribbles into a task list
Here are my notes from today. Pull out everything that is a task, with a deadline where one is implied, as a checklist sorted by urgency. [paste]
The model does the sorting; you stay the judge of what is actually urgent.
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Make it interview you
I need to [goal] and I'm not sure where to start. Ask me up to five questions, one at a time, then suggest a plan with a first step I could do today.
Flips the usual failure: instead of you guessing what context it needs, it asks.
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The full brief
You are helping me write a [document type] for [audience]. Its job is to [what the document must achieve]. Tone: [e.g. direct, no marketing language]. Length: [limit]. Raw material below. Draft it, then list anything you had to guess or invent because the material didn't cover it. [paste your raw material]
The guess list is the useful part: assistants fill gaps silently, and this makes the gaps visible while they're cheap to fix.
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Match this style
Here are two examples of the style I want: [paste them]. Write [the new thing] in the same style. Match the sentence length and level of formality, not just the vocabulary.
One real example outperforms a paragraph of adjectives about your house style.
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A comparison you can interrogate
Compare [option A] and [option B] for [purpose], as a table with rows for cost, effort, risk, and time to value. Below the table, recommend one for a team of [size] in two sentences, and say what would change your mind.
'Say what would change your mind' turns a confident verdict into something you can question.
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Critique without rewriting
Here is my draft: [paste]. Act as a sceptical [budget holder / customer / reviewer]. List the weakest points and the questions you would ask me in the meeting. Do not rewrite anything.
Left to themselves, assistants replace your voice when you only wanted the holes found.
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Angles before drafts
Give me four opening paragraphs for [the piece], each taking a genuinely different angle. Label each with the reader it would suit best. Don't polish; I'm choosing a direction, not a draft.
Choosing between real alternatives beats editing a single average one, and stops you anchoring on the first draft you see.
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Blunt follow-ups
Halve it. Less formal, same content. You dropped the point about [x]. Put it back. Now turn it into an email to [name].
The second message is where results improve, and it can be this blunt. No politeness ritual required.
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Show the working, flag the risk
Before answering, set out the factors you'd weigh and how they interact for this situation. Then give your answer, and flag which single assumption, if wrong, would most change it.
The assumption flag hands you the one thing worth verifying yourself.
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Teach it with a failure
Good example: [paste]. Bad example: [paste]. The second fails because [reason]. Now produce [the new thing], avoiding that failure.
A named failure teaches more than a second good example.
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Mark your own work
Draft [the thing]. Then score the draft from 1 to 5 against each criterion: [accuracy against the source, fit for the audience, length, tone]. Revise wherever it scored under 4, and show me only the final version.
A revision pass without reading two drafts. On high-stakes work, ask to see the scores too.
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Strict JSON out
Return only valid JSON matching this shape, with no commentary before or after: {"title": "", "risks": [{"description": "", "severity": "low|medium|high"}]}
Validate it anyway. 'Only valid JSON' is a strong request, not a guarantee; on an API, use the provider's structured-output features.
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Stage the job
We'll do this in stages. Stage 1: extract every claim from the document below. Wait for my go-ahead between stages. Stage 2 will be checking each claim against the second document, and stage 3 drafting the response.
Long single prompts fail in the middle. Stages catch a wrong turn at the end of a stage, not the end of the job.
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Three hostile readers
Here is our plan: [paste]. Argue against it three times, as three different people: the competitor who benefits if it fails, the regulator reading it cold, and the colleague who has to deliver it. Be specific about mechanisms, not vibes.
Each critic looks for different failures. The persona is compressed instructions, not magic.
Nothing matches these filters. Clear one to widen the search.
Every prompt works in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot alike. If you live in Microsoft 365, Microsoft's own Copilot Prompt Gallery is organised by app rather than by skill and is worth a look too. The habits behind good prompting are in prompting basics.