Customizing Prompt Templates

import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs'; import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem'; import { PanelLeft } from 'lucide-react';

goose comes with built-in prompt templates that guide its behavior in different situations. You can edit these templates to customize how goose responds, creates plans, decides what to save during compaction, and more.

How It Works

goose's default prompt templates are defined in the codebase and embedded in the application. You can override any default by creating a custom version in your local config directory (either directly or via goose Desktop).

When you customize a template:

• Your customizations persist across goose updates
• Changes to defaults in the codebase don't affect your customized templates
• You can reset to default templates at any time
• Changes take effect in new sessions

Your changes can range from major updates to minor adjustments such as:

• Edit system.md to have goose respond in Dutch by adding an instruction to "Reply in Dutch"
• Edit plan.md to add time estimates by adding instructions to "Include an estimated time for each step (e.g., "~5 min", "~30 min", "~2 hours")."

See Template Variable Syntax for important information about modifying template variables.

:::info Related Configuration Other goose settings and features can also affect behavior or provide context, such as config files, .goosehints, and skills. :::

Managing Prompt Templates

goose Desktop users can manage templates from the Settings page.

To customize a template:

1. Click the <PanelLeft className="inline" size={16} /> button in the top-left to open the sidebar
2. Click Settings in the sidebar
3. Click the Prompts tab
4. Click Edit next to the template you want to change
5. Make your changes in the editor. You can click Restore Default to start over from the default template at any time.
6. Click Save to apply your customization

Customized prompt templates display a Customized badge.

To reset a template to its default:

1. Click the <PanelLeft className="inline" size={16} /> button in the top-left to open the sidebar
2. Click Settings in the sidebar
3. Click the Prompts tab
4. Click Edit next to the template you want to reset
5. Click Reset to Default to delete your local template file

Or click Reset All at the top of the tab to delete all of your local template files.

goose CLI users can edit template files directly in the file system.

Custom templates are stored in:

• macOS/Linux: ~/.config/goose/prompts/
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Block\goose\config\prompts\

To customize a template:

1. Create the prompts directory if it doesn't exist
2. Copy the template file name from the table above (e.g., system.md)
3. Create a file with that name in your prompts directory
4. Add your custom content and save your changes. We recommend that you start by reviewing or copying the default template (linked in the table above).

To reset a template to its default:

1. Delete the template file from your prompts directory

Available Prompt Templates

The following default templates can be customized.

Customizable templates are enumerated in the TEMPLATE_REGISTRY array in prompt_template.rs.

Template Variable Syntax

Templates use Jinja2 syntax for dynamic content:

• {{ variable }} - Inserts a value (e.g., {{ extensions }} lists enabled extensions)
• {% if condition %}...{% endif %} - Conditional sections
• {% for item in list %}...{% endfor %} - Loops over items

Check out the default templates (linked to from the table above) to find common variables, such as {{ extensions }} and {{ hints }}.

Escaping Template Variables

If you need to include literal variable syntax in your templates without substitution, wrap it in single quotes:

This will substitute: {{ variable }}
This will appear literally: {{'{{variable}}'}}

:::warning Be careful when modifying template variables, as incorrect changes can break functionality. Test your changes in a new session to ensure they work as expected. :::

Additional Resources

import ContentCardCarousel from '@site/src/components/ContentCardCarousel'; import promptBanner from '@site/blog/2025-03-19-better-ai-prompting/prompt.png';

<ContentCardCarousel items={[ { type: 'blog', title: 'AI Prompting 101: How to Get the Best Responses from Your AI Agent', description: 'Learn different prompting styles—from instruction-based to chain-of-thought—and discover which approach works best for your needs.', thumbnailUrl: promptBanner, linkUrl: '/blog/2025/03/19/better-ai-prompting', date: '2025-03-19', duration: '8 min read' } ]} />