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Reusable Prompt Templates

ctx

The Problem

The gap between "raw instruction typed into chat" and "full SKILL.md skill" has no lightweight option. A user who wants a consistent code review checklist or refactoring guard rails has two bad choices:

  • Author a full skill (high friction, needs frontmatter, rebuild to embed)
  • Keep prompts in their head or a scratch file (no discoverability, no sharing)

TL;DR

ctx init                         # stamps starter prompts
ctx prompt list                  # see available prompts
ctx prompt show code-review      # print a prompt
ctx prompt add my-prompt --stdin # create from stdin
ctx prompt rm my-prompt          # delete

Or in your AI assistant: /ctx-prompt code-review

Commands and Skills Used

Tool Type Purpose
ctx prompt list Command List available prompt templates
ctx prompt show <name> Command Print prompt content to stdout
ctx prompt add <name> Command Create from embedded template or stdin
ctx prompt rm <name> Command Delete a prompt template
ctx init Command Stamps starter prompts during initialization
/ctx-prompt Skill List or apply prompt templates in-session

The Workflow

Creating Prompts

From starter templates — ctx init stamps three starters:

  • code-review — review checklist anchored to project conventions
  • refactor — refactoring with guard rails (tests first, preserve behavior)
  • explain — explain code for onboarding and knowledge transfer

From embedded templates:

ctx prompt add code-review    # creates from built-in template
ctx prompt add refactor       # creates from built-in template

Custom prompts from stdin:

echo "# Debug Checklist

1. Reproduce the issue
2. Check error logs
3. Add targeted logging
4. Isolate the failing component" | ctx prompt add debug --stdin

Using Prompts

In your AI assistant — invoke the skill:

/ctx-prompt code-review

The agent retrieves the prompt and follows its instructions in your current context. If no name is given, it lists available prompts.

From the CLI — pipe into other tools:

ctx prompt show code-review    # print to stdout

Sharing Prompts

Prompt templates live in .context/prompts/ and are committed to git by default. Your whole team shares the same prompts. For private prompts, add .context/prompts/ to .gitignore.

Tips

Keep prompts short and focused. A good prompt template is 5-15 lines. If it's longer, it's probably a skill.

Anchor to project context. Reference .context/CONVENTIONS.md or .context/ARCHITECTURE.md in your prompts — the AI will read those files for project-specific patterns.

Name prompts for the action, not the content. Use code-review not code-review-checklist. The .md extension is added automatically.

Prompts are not skills. They have no frontmatter, no trigger rules, no allowed-tools. They are plain markdown instructions. If you need automation, create a skill instead.

See Also