The system prompt establishes persistent behavior: the task, the constraints on what the model may assert, required citation format, and how to respond when information is unavailable. It applies to every interaction rather than being composed per request.
In production applications it is engineered by the vendor rather than written by users.
Alternative Names:
System Message, System Instructions
Why it Matters?
The system prompt is where a legal product's guardrails actually live, including instructions to answer only from supplied documents, to cite specific pages, and to state when the record does not address a question. Buyers cannot usually inspect it, but they can test its effects by asking questions the documents do not answer. A system that declines is well instructed; one that improvises is not.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What does a system prompt control?
Can buyers evaluate a system prompt they cannot see?
