Prompt Library — Ready-Made Prompts for Everyday Life

This is a page of copy-paste prompts, not a theory course. If you want to first understand why a precise prompt works better than “write something”, read what prompting is. If you haven’t opened ChatGPT yet, start with the beginner’s guide.

Every template is written so you can paste it into a conversation and fill in the brackets. Don’t leave brackets in the text. If you don’t know a part, write “I don’t know, ask me” — then the AI asks for the missing detail instead of inventing it.

How to use the templates

1. Copy the prompt in full.
2. Replace every [bracket] with your own detail.
3. Send. If the answer is almost good, continue in the same conversation: “cut it in half” or “make the tone more businesslike”.
4. Check the facts yourself if it involves money, health, law or the content of a school assignment.

Before you paste in anything personal

Text written to an AI is not a private letter. Use pseudonyms and rounded numbers. Do not paste in your personal identity code, full address, account numbers, passwords, medical certificates or other people’s messages without permission.

A broader guide: AI and privacy.

Email and messages

When you ask for a draft, tell who the message goes to, what you want to happen and what tone fits. A bare “write an email” produces a generic text you will end up editing anyway.

A businesslike request

Write a short email to [name or role]. Subject: [what you are requesting or announcing]. I want the recipient to [do this]. Tone: businesslike and friendly, neither grovelling nor commanding. Length: no more than [80] words. Do not invent facts I did not give. If some detail is missing, ask for it before writing the finished message.

A no that doesn’t leave things hanging

Write a polite refusal to a message with this content: [summary, not the original message if it contains private details]. The reason I can give: [reason]. I don’t want to promise a later time. Tone: warm but clear. Length: no more than 60 words.

Tidying up your own text

Here is my own draft: [paste text]. Don’t change the substance. Fix only the language, repetition and unclear sentences. Keep my voice — don’t make the text sound like an ad. Show the corrected version first, and below it three things you changed.

More on email: AI for emails.

Food and shopping

In a recipe request, the constraints matter more than a wish for “something good”. If you don’t say what’s in the cupboard, you get a recipe that requires a shopping trip.

From cupboard to meal

I have these ingredients at home: [list]. Allergies or restrictions: [e.g. no nuts / none]. I have [30] minutes and there are [2] of us eating. Suggest two meals that need no new purchases. For each, tell me: name, the steps briefly, and what will probably be left over.

A shopping list on a budget

Make a weekly shopping list for [2] people. The budget is about [80] euros. We don’t eat [restriction]. Weeknight meals can be simple; on the weekend one slightly better meal is fine. Split the list by section (vegetables, dry goods, dairy, meat or plant protein). Don’t suggest brand products. Mark what can be dropped if the budget feels tight.

School and studying

AI is good at explaining and drilling. It is bad at doing the assignment for you — and in many schools that is also forbidden. Use it so that you stay the one doing the work.

An explanation at your level

Explain the topic [topic] as if to a [high school / vocational school / adult education] student who has never heard of it before. Use one everyday analogy. Don’t use a term before you have explained it. End with three check questions I don’t get ready answers to — I’ll ask them from you only after I’ve tried myself.

Practice, not a ready answer

I have an assignment on [topic]. Don’t write a finished answer. First ask me what I already know. Then give three steps for getting started, and one example that is not the same assignment. If I answer wrong, tell me what went wrong and give me another try.

Feedback on your own text

Here is my own text: [paste]. Don’t rewrite it. Give feedback in four points: what is already clear, which claim lacks justification, where the structure jumps, and one concrete fix I can make myself. Keep my examples.

A broader guide for students: AI for students.

Money, bills and paperwork

In these prompts the AI organises and explains. It is not the tax office, the bank or your doctor. Check numbers and deadlines against the original document.

A bill or decision in plain language

Explain this text in plain language. What must I do, by when, and what happens if I do nothing. Separate what the text says from what is your interpretation. If a number or date is missing from the text I pasted, say so directly. Text: [paste only the necessary excerpt, without personal identity codes and account numbers].

Getting a picture of monthly spending

Help me see where the money goes. Here is a rough list, rounded, without account numbers: [income and expenses]. Don’t give investment advice. Split the expenses into fixed and flexible, and suggest three items where I could ask myself whether the amount is right. Don’t invent expenses I didn’t mention.

Home, organising and small decisions

A weekly task list that fits real life

I have these unfinished things: [list]. On weeknights I have about [45] minutes and on Saturday [2] hours. Arrange things so that at most three get done this week. Mark what can be pushed to next week without anything falling apart. Don’t add new projects.

Comparing two options

Compare two options: [A] and [B]. What matters to me is [price / time / effort / noise / family with kids]. Don’t declare a winner. Make a table with only the differences that follow from the details I gave. If the decision depends on information I didn’t give, ask for it in one sentence.

When the answer isn’t good enough

A good follow-up prompt is short and points at the flaw. These work in the same conversation, without copying the original template again:

• “Too long. Cut it in half, same content.”
• “The tone sounds like an ad. Write as if to a neighbour, not to customer service.”
• “You invented a part I didn’t tell you. Remove it.”
• “Give two versions: one cautious, one blunt.”
• “Don’t finish the task. Just give the next step.”

What not to expect from this page

These templates don’t replace your own judgement, and they don’t stay up to date with authority forms. If a document has a deadline or an amount in euros, it says so in the document — not in the AI’s memory.

If you want to understand how the same prompt is sharpened with a role, an example and a constraint, return to the article what prompting is.