AI prompts with templates
Good prompts are half the battle for a helpful AI chatbot. SilentChat therefore comes with a curated template library — for system prompt, custom instructions, welcome message, and fallback message.
The library contains typical roles (support, sales, tech, e-commerce) and tone variants (formal, casual, German only …). All templates support placeholders like {{tenant_name}} or {{business_hours_short}}, which are automatically filled with your data when calling the AI.
Where can I find the templates?
Every prompt field in the dashboard has a „Templates"-button to the right of the label:
- Settings → AI Bot → Persona: System prompt, instructions
- Settings → AI Bot → General: Welcome, fallback message
- Widgets → [Widget] → AI Tab: Widget-specific overrides
A click opens a right sidebar with all matching templates for the respective field and your language.
Insert a template
- Click „Templates" → Sidebar opens to the right
- Search for a template or browse through categories
- „Preview" shows the prompt with your real values (incl. company name, business hours, etc.)
- „Apply" inserts the raw version (with placeholders) into the field
If the field already contains content, a confirmation dialog with three options appears:
| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
| Replace | Existing text is overwritten |
| Append to end | Template is appended at the bottom (with line break) |
| Cancel | No change |
Placeholders
Templates contain placeholders like {{tenant_name}}. When the AI is actually called, they are automatically replaced with the appropriate values — the AI sees plain text.
| Placeholder | Replaced by |
|---|---|
{{tenant_name}} | Name of your tenant |
{{brand_name}} | Brand (fallback: agent name, then tenant name) |
{{agent_name}} | Widget agent name |
{{ai_agent_name}} | Display name in bot messages |
{{website_url}} | Your website URL |
{{support_email}} | Support email |
{{privacy_url}} | Privacy URL from widget config |
{{imprint_url}} | Imprint URL from widget config |
{{knowledge_base_url}} | Public knowledge base URL |
{{business_hours_short}} | Summarized business hours (e.g. „Mon–Fri 9–6 pm") |
{{timezone}} | IANA timezone |
{{current_date}} | Today's date in the appropriate format |
What happens if a placeholder cannot be filled?
If the underlying data is missing (e.g. no support email maintained), the placeholder is replaced with an empty string when the AI is called. The preview shows a yellow warning with the list of all unfiled placeholders — supplement the corresponding tenant or widget setting.
Saving a template is raw insertion
When you click „Apply", the raw version with placeholders is inserted into the field — not the rendered text. This is intentional: This way, your prompts remain dynamic and automatically adapt to changes (new agent name, new business hours).
Widget override
On the widget detail page, you can override the system prompt and instructions per widget — for example, if you want to use different tones for different brands or languages.
The „Templates"-button is also available there. The preview then shows the widget-specific values ({{agent_name}} etc. come from the widget, not from the tenant default setting).
A „Reset"-button next to the template button removes the widget override — then the tenant default applies again.
Fallback language
If no template has been created for your dashboard language yet (e.g. French), the sidebar automatically shows the English versions with a note. The templates can be easily extended to other languages — contact your administrator if needed.
Curating the templates (Super-Admins only)
System templates are maintained by Super-Admins under Admin → AI Prompt Templates. There, templates can be created, edited, deactivated, and tested with sample data. Tenant-specific templates are planned for a later version.