The prompt library in Smith gives you instant access to pre-built prompts for common tasks. Soon, you'll also be able to save your own custom prompts and share them across your organization. This guide shows you how to browse and use pre-built prompts today, and how the custom prompt features will work when they become available.
What Are Prompts?
Prompts are pre-written instructions or questions that you can use to interact with Smith's AI models. Instead of typing the same request repeatedly, you can save prompts to your library and reuse them with a single click.
Two Types of Prompts
- Created by EBM Software for common business tasks
- Available to all users across your organization
- Cover wide range of use cases like data analysis, content creation, and reporting
- Created by you based on your specific needs
- Personal or shared visibility options
- Tailored workflows for your unique tasks and processes
Prompts work seamlessly with Smith's other features. You can combine prompts with specific AI models, personas, and workspace files to create powerful, context-aware queries.
Accessing the Prompt Library
Smith gives you quick access to prompts in multiple locations: featured prompts on your Custom chat homepage, the Prompt Library tab, and the My Workspace management area.
Featured Prompts on Custom Chat Page
When you're on the Custom tab (the main chat interface), you'll see a selection of pre-built prompts displayed prominently on the homepage. These appear as cards showing the prompt title and a preview of the content. Clicking any of these featured prompts automatically populates the prompt text into your chat input field, allowing you to start using it immediately.
Opening the Prompt Library
Navigate to the top navigation bar
Look for three tabs: Custom, Prompt Library, and Personas.
Click on "Prompt Library"
The interface will display all available prompts organized in a grid layout.
Browse available prompts
Each prompt card shows the prompt title and a preview of its content.
The prompt library displays prompts in card format, making it easy to scan and find what you need. Pre-built prompts from EBM Software appear alongside your custom prompts and any shared prompts from your organization.
How it works: When you click a prompt card in the Prompt Library, Smith automatically returns you to the Custom chat page and populates the prompt text into your chat input field, ready for you to customize and send.
Managing Prompts in My Workspace
You can also access and manage your prompts from the My Workspace section. Click the "My Workspace" tab in the top navigation, then select the "Prompts" tab. This view displays your prompts in a table format showing the prompt name and creation date, with a "Use" button for each prompt that loads it into your chat interface.
Using Prompts in Conversations
Once you've found a prompt you want to use, applying it to your conversation is straightforward.
Applying a Prompt
Prompt Application Workflow
Select Prompt
Click a prompt card to auto-populate the input field
Configure
Choose model, add files, apply persona
Submit
Send your request to Smith
Tip
Prompts work best when combined with relevant workspace files. If a prompt asks Smith to "analyze financial data," make sure to select the appropriate spreadsheets or reports from your workspace before submitting.
Editing Prompts Before Use
After clicking a prompt card, you can modify the text in the input field before sending. This is useful when you want to:
Add Specifics
Include dates, names, or categories
Narrow Scope
Focus on specific aspects
Combine Ideas
Merge multiple prompt concepts
Reference Data
Point to specific files or metrics
Example: A pre-built prompt might say "Summarize this document." You could edit it to "Summarize this Q4 financial report and highlight any budget variances greater than 10%."
Creating Custom Prompts COMING SOON
Feature Coming Soon
The ability to create and save your own custom prompts, as well as share prompts across your organization, is currently in development and will be available soon. The following sections describe how these features will work when they launch.
Creating your own prompts will allow you to save frequently used instructions for quick access. Custom prompts can be saved as personal (visible only to you) or shared (visible to your entire organization).
Building a New Prompt
Click "Custom" tab
Switch from the Prompt Library tab to the Custom tab in the top navigation.
Enter your prompt text
Type or paste the instructions you want to save in the chat input field.
Configure prompt settings
Use the settings panel to define:
- Prompt Title — A descriptive name that will appear on the prompt card
- Visibility — Personal (only you) or Shared (entire organization)
- Attached Model — Optionally select a default AI model for this prompt
Save the prompt
Click the save button to add it to your prompt library.
What Makes a Good Prompt?
Effective prompts are clear, specific, and reusable. Consider these guidelines when creating custom prompts:
| Best Practice | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Be specific about the task | Vague requests like "help me" produce vague results. Instead, say "Identify the top 5 risks in this project plan and suggest mitigation strategies." |
| Define the output format | Specify whether you want a summary, bullet points, a table, or detailed analysis. For example: "Create a bullet-point list of key findings." |
| Include context when needed | Explain what you're trying to accomplish. "I'm preparing for a board meeting" helps Smith tailor the response appropriately. |
| Use placeholders for variables | If you'll modify the prompt each time, use brackets: "Analyze [DOCUMENT NAME] for [SPECIFIC METRIC]." This reminds you what to customize. |
| Test and refine | Run your prompt a few times with different inputs to ensure it produces consistent, high-quality results before saving. |
Important
Shared prompts are visible to everyone in your organization. Avoid including sensitive information, personal data, or confidential details in shared prompts. Use personal prompts for anything specific to your role or projects.
Managing Your Prompt Library COMING SOON
Once custom prompt creation is available, you'll be able to organize and maintain your prompt collection for easy access.
Viewing Prompt Details
To see the full details of any prompt in your library:
Navigate to the Prompt Library tab
View all available prompts.
Click on a prompt card
This opens the prompt details, showing:
- Complete prompt text
- Attached AI model (if specified)
- Visibility setting (personal or shared)
Editing Existing Prompts
When custom prompt creation becomes available, you'll be able to modify your prompts at any time:
Deleting Prompts
When this feature is available, you'll be able to remove prompts from your library by selecting the prompt and choosing the delete option. Note that:
- Deleting a personal prompt only affects your library
- Deleting a shared prompt removes it for your entire organization
- Pre-built prompts from EBM Software cannot be deleted
Advanced Prompt Strategies
Once you're comfortable with basic prompt creation, these advanced techniques can help you get even more value from Smith.
Combining Prompts with Personas
Prompts and personas work together to create highly specialized AI interactions. A persona defines who the AI should act as, while the prompt defines what the AI should do.
Example Combination
PERSONA
"Financial Analyst with expertise in SaaS metrics"
PROMPT
"Analyze this financial report and identify key SaaS performance indicators"
This approach gives you role-specific analysis using task-specific instructions. Learn more in the Customizing AI Behavior with Personas article.
Using Prompts with Workspace Files
Prompts become significantly more powerful when paired with specific files from your workspace. Instead of generic requests, create prompts tailored to specific document types:
Meeting Transcripts
"Extract action items and owners from this meeting transcript"
Financial Data
"Compare Q1 and Q2 revenue data and identify trends"
Legal Documents
"Review this contract and flag any non-standard terms"
Before using these prompts, select the relevant files or folders from your workspace to provide Smith with the necessary context. See Organizing Your Work with Workspaces for file management details.
Multi-Step Prompt Workflows
Once custom prompt creation is available, you'll be able to create a series of related prompts that build on each other for complex tasks:
Customer Feedback Analysis Workflow
Initial Analysis
"Identify the main themes in this customer feedback data"
Deep Dive
"For each theme, provide specific examples and quantify mentions"
Action Planning
"Suggest 3 product improvements ranked by potential impact"
When custom prompt creation launches, you'll be able to save each step as a separate prompt, giving you a repeatable workflow you can apply to different datasets over time.
Pro Tip
When creating multi-step workflows, use the Memory setting in your conversation settings to help Smith retain context across multiple prompt executions. This creates more coherent, connected responses.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Here are solutions to common challenges when working with prompts. Some issues apply to current functionality, while others will be relevant once custom prompt creation is available.
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Prompt produces inconsistent results | Make your prompt more specific. Add constraints, define the output format, and specify what you want included or excluded. |
| Response doesn't use my files | Select specific files or folders from your workspace before submitting the prompt. Smith only uses files you explicitly select. |
| Shared prompt isn't visible to team COMING SOON | Verify the prompt is set to "Shared" (not "Personal") in the visibility settings. Check that you saved the prompt after making changes. |
| Can't edit a pre-built prompt | Pre-built prompts are read-only. Click the prompt to load it, modify the text in the input field, then save as a new custom prompt. |
| Output is too generic | Combine your prompt with a persona that defines the AI's role and expertise. This adds professional context to the response. |
Related Articles
Related Articles
Starting and Managing Conversations
Learn how to have effective conversations with Smith, manage chat history, and export your results.
Customizing AI Behavior with Personas
Discover how to create personas that define AI roles and combine them with prompts for specialized responses.
Organizing Your Work with Workspaces
Understand how to upload, organize, and select files to provide context for your prompts.
Next Steps: Now that you understand prompts, explore how personas can further customize your AI interactions. Visit the Personas article to learn more, or jump into the Workspaces guide to master file organization for context-rich queries.
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