# Prompts

Prompts are the questions Shruwd asks on each engine, every cycle. Choosing them well is
the highest-leverage decision in your setup — everything else is measured against them.

## Writing a good prompt

Write what a buyer would actually type, not a keyword.

| Write this | Not this |
|---|---|
| `best waitlist software for a product launch` | `waitlist software` |
| `launchlist alternatives` | `competitor comparison` |
| `how do I collect sign-ups before launch` | `sign up collection` |

Keep the set stable. Prompts are re-asked every cycle, and that repetition is what makes
week-over-week comparison mean anything. Changing them often resets what you can compare.

Aim for a mix, weighted toward commercial and comparison prompts — those are where
competitors get named and where a change is worth having.

## Adding prompts

**Permissions:** editor or above.

1. Go to the brand's **Prompts** page.
2. Enter your prompts in **Add prompts**, one per line.
3. Choose an **intent** for the batch.
4. Add **tags** if you want to group prompts for filtering. Optional.
5. Select **Add**.

Each prompt is 1–500 characters. A batch is all or nothing: if it would take you past
your plan's prompt limit, none of it is added and Shruwd tells you the numbers.

Your first measurement starts within minutes of your first prompt and counts only the
prompts and [competitors](https://shruwd.io/docs/tracking/competitors.md) that exist by then. Add competitors
first and the prompts together.

## Choosing an intent

Intent decides which diagnostics apply to a prompt, so it is worth getting roughly right.

| Intent | Use it for |
|---|---|
| `commercial` | "Best X for Y" — a buyer ready to choose. The prompts most worth winning. |
| `comparison` | "X vs Y", "alternatives to X" — weighing options. Where competitors get named. |
| `informational` | "How does X work" — learning, not yet buying. |
| `navigational` | Looking for a specific brand or page by name. |
| `problem` | Describes the problem, not a product: "how do I stop losing sign-ups". |

## Editing a prompt

Changing a prompt's **text** or **intent** starts a new version. Past measurements stay
attached to the wording that produced them, so your history stays honest — but the new
wording starts from zero responses and needs time to clear the ten-response threshold.

Changing **tags** does not change what is asked, and takes effect immediately.

## Removing a prompt

Select the remove icon on a prompt. It stops being asked from the next cycle on, and its
history is kept.

Removing a prompt frees a slot against your plan limit. Re-adding it later counts as a
new prompt.

## Reading prompt coverage

The **Current prompts** list shows each prompt's mention rate over the last 30 days for
the selected engine, plus two counts worth watching:

- **with no AI answer** — the engine produced no AI answer for this prompt. A high count
  means the prompt is not one these engines answer, whatever you do to your site.
- **naming nobody** — the answer named no tracked brand. Nobody owns the question yet.

A prompt showing **Not measured yet** has not been through a completed cycle.

## Limits

Prompts are counted **across all brands in your workspace**: 10 on Crawl, 25 on Starter,
100 on Pro. Only active prompts count.

See [Plans and limits](https://shruwd.io/docs/account/plans-and-limits.md).

## Next steps

- [Competitors](https://shruwd.io/docs/tracking/competitors.md) — who you are measured against
- [Reading your results](https://shruwd.io/docs/getting-started/reading-your-results.md) — what comes back