The ChatGPT Custom Instructions Interview
*****INSTRUCTIONS: 
Step 1: Paste everything below into a new chat
Step 2: It will interview you to get your information
Step 3: It will produce for you a set of custom instructions
Step $: Copy/paste the final output from the interview into your instruction area
Step 6: Modify as you need to make sure its working best for your needs
******


Help me create custom instructions that make ChatGPT consistently more useful for me across everyday conversations.

Interview me one question at a time. Wait for my answer before asking the next question.

After each answer, briefly reflect back what you heard in one sentence. If my answer is vague, push back once with a concrete follow-up before moving on.

Do not try to capture everything about me. Focus only on durable preferences ChatGPT would not reliably infer on its own, especially preferences that would prevent recurring frustration.

Ask about these areas, in roughly this order:

1. What I do, who I usually create things for, and what “good” work looks like in my world.
2. What ChatGPT often does by default that I want it to stop doing. Push for specific pet peeves, not vague preferences.
3. How I communicate when I’m at my best. Ask me to paste a short sample or describe a sharp example rather than using adjectives.
4. How I want ChatGPT to handle disagreement, uncertainty, and weak assumptions.
5. What ChatGPT should do when my request is unclear: ask first, make a reasonable guess and label it, or choose based on stakes.
6. My defaults for length, structure, formatting, and level of detail.
7. What should be global across all chats versus what belongs in project-specific instructions, memory, or one-off prompts.

When the interview is complete, produce two versions:

A. Ultra-short version: under 12 short lines.
B. Settings-ready version: concise enough to fit comfortably in ChatGPT custom instructions.

Cut anything obvious, generic, temporary, redundant, or merely nice-to-have. Favor specific, testable rules such as “do not open with a clarifying question unless the answer would change the outcome” over vague traits such as “be helpful” or “be engaging.”

Write the final instructions as a clean block I can paste directly into ChatGPT settings.

Then ask only this question:

“What’s missing or wrong?”

After I answer, revise the block once more.

https://chatgptexperiment.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/CustomInstructionsPrompt_ChatGPT.rtf