Stop retyping the same prompts: four ways to reuse them in any AI

Updated October 10, 2026 · By Otter Potter, the maker of Prompt Shortcuts (not neutral; we say where it matters).

Most people who use AI every day have a handful of prompts they type again and again: “summarize this in five bullets”, “fix the grammar but keep my voice”, “explain this like I’m new to it”. Retyping them is slow, and the retyped version is never quite as good as the one you refined. Here are four ways to keep them, simplest first.

1. A notes file (free)

Keep your best prompts in one note or document, one per heading, and copy from it. It works with every AI on every device and nothing can break it. The cost is the trip: switch windows, find the prompt, copy, switch back, paste.

2. Each AI’s own standing instructions (free)

For things you want every time, such as “keep answers short” or “I’m a nurse, use clinical terms”, use the AI’s built-in setting: custom instructions in ChatGPT, and the equivalent in Claude and Gemini. Projects in ChatGPT and Claude do the same for one area of work. This is the right home for preferences. It’s the wrong home for a prompt you only want sometimes, and you have to set it up separately in each AI.

3. Your computer’s text replacement (free)

Macs and phones can swap a short code for a longer phrase: on a Mac it’s under Keyboard in System Settings, as Text Replacements. Type the code, get the phrase. It’s built for short single-line phrases, and it doesn’t fire in every chat box, so test your longest prompt before you depend on it. Windows has no built-in equivalent.

4. A shortcut inside the chat box

Prompt Shortcuts (we make this, it’s free) lets you save prompts with short names. In ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity, type ;tldr and press Tab, and the full prompt appears in the message box, line breaks included. Prompts stay in your browser, and you can export them to a file to move to another computer.

What it can’t do: it works in a desktop browser on those four sites, not in the phone apps. A very long prompt pasted into ChatGPT may become an attachment, as any long paste does.

What makes a prompt worth saving

• It says what you want back. “Five bullets, plain words, no introduction.”
• It leaves a gap for today’s material. End with “Here is the text:” so you can paste straight after it.
• It has earned its place. Save the version that gave you a good answer, not the first draft.

Questions

Do the same prompts work in every AI?

Mostly. Plain instructions travel well. Expect small differences in length and tone between AIs.

Why a semicolon?

It almost never starts a word in normal writing, so a shortcut doesn’t fire by accident. Tab is only taken when what you typed matches a saved name.

Is Prompt Shortcuts made by any of the AI companies?

No. It’s made by Otter Potter and is not affiliated with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or Perplexity.