Many Zapier products allow you to interact with an AI (artificial intelligence) system using a prompt. This article explains how to create an effective prompt.
What is prompting?
In the context of AI, prompting is asking the AI to do something. The way you describe your requests and the information you provide influence the quality of the results.
Where can I prompt AI within Zapier products?
The following Zapier products use prompts:
- Zapier Copilot.
- The AI Field in Zapier Tables.
- When creating a new canvas in Zapier Canvas.
- Zapier Agents.
- Zapier Chatbots directive and greeting.
Prompt structure
Most AIs work well with very clear requests that:
- Give the AI a broader explanation of the expected end result.
- Offer further details of the most important information or steps within that system.
Beyond that, ensure that your prompt is:
- Coherent: Ensure instructions do not conflict or override each other.
- Direct: Describe a task and the results you expect.
- Specific: Mention any tools or specific fields you expect in the AI response.
Context window
LLMs (large language models) use context windows, which determine the amount of information they can process at once. Window sizes are measured in tokens, or parts of a word, and depend on the AI model used. If your prompt has too many steps or requirements, it can become too complex to run effectively.
Depending on the AI tool you're using, you can:
- Give the AI small amounts of information at a time and test to ensure that the result is what you expect.
- In Zapier Agents, create separate agents to handle different parts of a complex request.
Example use cases
Below you'll find examples of prompts for specific use cases. Use these as inspiration for your own prompts.
| Use Case | Example Prompt | Product |
| Summarize messages | Create a summary of all customer feedback received through my chatbot in the past month. Use Google Docs to create it, with the following name convention for the title: Customer feedback - month name. Use one bullet point for each topic, and include two quotes from customers. Alert me on Gmail when it's ready. | Zapier Agents |
| Create prioritization system |
Create a system that receives tickets through Jira, and uses the “Summary” and “Description” fields of new tickets to understand the request and customer sentiment, and categorize them. Use the following options: - Low - Medium - High priority It should notify the IT team via Microsoft Teams whenever a new ticket has been categorized. |
Zapier Canvas |
| Compose an intro email | When a new record is added to my table of new leads, use the fields “Name”, “Company”, “Location”, and “Products selected” to compose a personalized welcome email to our business. | Zapier Tables |
Next steps
Creating a prompt that matches your needs takes some trial and error. Make as many changes as you need to get the AI to generate the best assets and steps for your use case.
You can also check out specific information on how to create prompts for Zapier products:
- Prompt AI to create a system in Zapier Canvas.
- Improve an agent's behavior results.
- Create a directive and greeting for your chatbot.
Learn more: