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Prompting In Automations - Different Roles

Prompting In Automations - Different Roles

The different roles in prompting used to confuse me, but not any more...

Dilini Rajapaksha
January 20, 2025

When I first started using AI in automations, I was confused with prompting.

It was quite different from using a chat interface like ChatGPT or Claude.

There were various roles to consider when writing prompts, and then there was the system prompt.

I didn’t know when to use what. Different people used used these differently in their tutorials, and it wasn’t clear which was for what purpose.

I wanted to learn how to use them effectively, and once I did, my results became far more accurate and consistent.

Let's start with an example:

Imagine you’re building a chatbot to help customers with their online orders. Here’s how the three prompts would play together:

System Prompt (the big-picture rule): *"You are a polite and helpful customer service assistant who always aims to resolve user issues efficiently."
User Prompt (the specific task): "I need to cancel my last order. Can you help?"
Assistant Prompt (the AI’s response): "Sure! Could you provide me with your order number so I can assist you?"

The system prompt ensures the AI is polite and efficient throughout the conversation. The user prompt focuses on the immediate query. And the assistant prompt delivers the AI’s reply based on these inputs.

System Prompt: Sets the "personality" and overarching behavior of the AI. Best used to ensure consistency across a session.
User Prompt: Drives the conversation by specifying the tasks or queries. Changes with every user input.
Assistant Prompt: The AI's output, shaped by the system prompt and the immediate user query.

The System prompt

Most people use the prompt "You are a helpful assistant" for this one, or just skip it altogether.

I would never skip the system prompt in an automation.

It takes precedence over any other prompt and you can set the tone and style of the outcome.

Here's a general purpose system prompt:

"You are a helpful assistant capable of answering questions, solving problems, and engaging in thoughtful conversations."

But this could be more comprehensive and specific.

For reference checkout the Claude system prompt: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/release-notes/system-prompts

For your automations, you don't have to give a system prompt that long, but make it more detailed to get tailored output.

Following is a table that clarifies the different roles in prompting:

Prompt Type	What It Is	Purpose	How It Works	Influence Weight
System Prompt	The initial instruction that sets the context and behaviour for the AI.	Defines the AI’s role, tone, and style for the entire session. Ensures consistent responses across all interactions.	Acts as a "global rulebook." The AI references it to decide how to behave throughout the conversation.	High: Strongly influences behaviour across all user prompts and responses.
User Prompt	The specific query or instruction provided by the user.	Tells the AI what the user wants, such as a question, task, or clarification. Focused on the immediate request.	Directly shapes the AI's response for that particular input. The AI combines this with the system prompt to decide how to answer the user.	Medium: Shapes the immediate task but relies on the system prompt for broader behaviour and tone.
Assistant Prompt	The AI’s response to the user based on the system and user prompts.	Provides answers, explanations, or guidance to fulfil the user’s request.	Generated by the AI by interpreting the system and user prompts together. The assistant prompt is used to continue the conversation and follow-up questions.	None: It is generated entirely by the AI based on the system and user prompts.

That’s it for this week, if you have any questions reply to this email.

Have a great week!