Claude Code System Prompts

[!tip] NEW (June 12, 2026): We've greatly expanded this list with many more of Claude Code's prompts—from 350 to 515 (+165)—our most complete coverage yet.

This repository contains an up-to-date list of all Claude Code's various system prompts and their associated token counts as of Claude Code v2.1.282 (September 24th, 2026). It also contains a CHANGELOG.md for the system prompts across 298 versions since v2.0.14. From the team behind Piebald.

This repository is updated within minutes of each Claude Code release. See the changelog, and follow @PiebaldAI on X for a summary of the system prompt changes in each release.

[!note] ⭐ Star this repository to get notified about new Claude Code versions. For each new Claude Code version, we create a release on GitHub, which will notify all users who've starred the repository.

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Why multiple "system prompts?"

Claude Code doesn't just have one single string for its system prompt.

Instead, there are:

• Large portions conditionally added depending on the environment and various configs.
• Descriptions for builtin tools like Write, Bash, and TodoWrite, and some are fairly large.
• Separate system prompts for builtin agents like Explore and Plan.
• Numerous AI-powered utility functions, such as conversation compaction, CLAUDE.md generation, session title generation, etc. featuring their own systems prompts.

The result—500+ strings that are constantly changing and moving within a very large minified JS file.

[!important] Want to modify a particular piece of the system prompt in your own Claude Code installation? Use tweakcc. It—

• lets you customize the individual pieces of the system prompt as markdown files, and then
• patches your npm-based or native (binary) Claude Code installation with them, and also
• provides diffing and conflict management for when both you and Anthropic have conflicting modifications to the same prompt file.

Extraction

This repository contains the system prompts extracted using a script from the latest npm version of Claude Code. As they're extracted directly from Claude Code's compiled source code, they're guaranteed to be exactly what Claude Code uses. If you use tweakcc to customize the system prompts, it works in a similar way—it patches the exact same strings in your local installation as are extracted into this repository.

Prompts

Note that some prompts contain interpolated bits such as builtin tool name references, lists of available sub agents, and various other context-specific variables, so the actual counts in a particular Claude Code session will differ slightly—likely not beyond ±20 tokens, however.

Agent Prompts

Sub-agents and utilities.

Sub-agents

• Agent Prompt: Explore (862 tks) - System prompt for the Explore subagent.
• Agent Prompt: Plan mode (enhanced) (1066 tks) - Enhanced prompt for the Plan subagent.

Creation Assistants

• Agent Prompt: CLAUDE.md creation (631 tks) - Instructs the /init command to analyze a codebase and create or improve a CLAUDE.md file.
• Agent Prompt: Status line setup (4570 tks) - System prompt for the statusline-setup agent that configures status line display.

Slash Commands

• Agent Prompt: /batch slash command (1524 tks) - Instructions for orchestrating a large, parallelizable change across a codebase.
• Agent Prompt: /code-review GitLab comment posting (312 tks) - Directs code review findings to a general GitLab merge request note when the comment flag is enabled.
• Agent Prompt: /code-review inline gap sweep phase (105 tks) - Adds a final same-context sweep for defects missed by an inline code review when subagents are unavailable.
• Agent Prompt: /code-review minimal mode (536 tks) - Minimal /code-review prompt that performs one careful diff pass and reports up to fifteen concrete correctness findings.
• Agent Prompt: /code-review part 1 base finder angles (145 tks) - Line-by-line diff scan instructions for the /code-review slash command's finder-angle phase.
• Agent Prompt: /code-review part 10 ReportFindings output format (345 tks) - Output-format instructions for /code-review runs that report verified findings once through the ReportFindings tool with capped, severity-ranked findings.
• Agent Prompt: /code-review part 2 low effort minimum findings mode (740 tks) - Low-effort /code-review prompt that reads the diff once, targets at least min(files_changed, 4) hunk-visible runtime correctness findings, and performs one extra pass when short.
• Agent Prompt: /code-review part 2 low effort mode ( tks) - Low-effort /code-review prompt that reads the diff once and returns up to four hunk-visible runtime correctness findings.

Utilities

• Agent Prompt: Agent Hook (234 tks) - Evaluates agent hook conditions against the codebase and, when available, the conversation transcript, then returns a structured pass/fail result.
• Agent Prompt: Artifact comment completion reply and resolution (256 tks) - Directs an Artifact comment worker to post one completion reply when needed and resolve an open thread after acting unless the conversation remains active.
• Agent Prompt: Artifact comment thread analyst (750 tks) - Instructs a read-only agent to analyze one Artifact comment thread and return a constrained analysis brief for a separate composer.
• Agent Prompt: Artifact editor thread follow-up (328 tks) - Delivers a tagged Artifact thread message to the active editor worker, requiring page-scoped edits and republishing for relevant requests and no changes for unrelated ones.
• Agent Prompt: Auto mode rule reviewer (292 tks) - Reviews and critiques user-defined auto mode classifier rules for clarity, completeness, conflicts, and actionability.
• Agent Prompt: Away summary generation (73 tks) - Prompts a no-tools away-summary generation run to recap the goal, current task, and next action when the user returns.
• Agent Prompt: Background agent state classifier (6237 tks) - Classifies the tail of a background agent transcript as working, blocked, done, or failed and returns concise state JSON.
• Agent Prompt: Background job agent instructions ( tks) - Instructs the built-in background job agent to narrate progress, restate tool results, and emit explicit result, needs input, or failed status signals.

Data

The content of various template files embedded in Claude Code.

• Data: /auto-mode-setup usage (406 tks) - Defines /auto-mode-setup proposal and reviewed-apply command syntax, request ID ordering, save-target validation, and integrity requirements.
• Data: Artifact MCP connector guidance (351 tks) - Explains how Artifact MCP manifests declare claude.ai, built-in, and host connectors and how to discover exact server and upstream tool names.
• Data: Artifact capability verification pass (275 tks) - Requires one functional pass over a page's session-declared runtime capabilities before handing over its link, assembling the preview, database read and endpoint checks to run and what to report to the user.
• Data: Artifact connector call observation requirement (305 tks) - Explains how to obtain connector argument names from the loaded tool schema, learn result shapes from safe real calls, and disclose shapes that cannot be verified before publishing.
• Data: Artifact connector server naming guidance (241 tks) - Explains how connector tool prefixes map to manifest server identifiers and why in-page calls must use the resolved connector display name.
• Data: Artifact decision component HTML skeleton (1117 tks) - Provides the canonical HTML and JSON-island skeleton for embedding one reusable Artifact decision block.
• Data: Artifact host MCP server guidance (420 tks) - Explains how locally configured MCP servers may be declared as Artifact host servers and distinguishes them from Claude.ai connectors and built-in servers.
• Data: Artifact runtime capability declarations ( tks) - Defines Artifact runtime capability declaration, carry-forward, clearing, replacement, and contract pinning semantics.

System Prompt

Parts of the main system prompt.

• System Prompt: /loop tick (loop.md absent, dynamic pacing) (321 tks) - Loop tick injection for dynamic self-paced autonomous checks when loop.md is absent.
• System Prompt: /loop tick (loop.md tasks) (94 tks) - Loop tick injection for recurring cron-based runs of tasks from loop.md.
• System Prompt: /loop tick (loop.md tasks, dynamic pacing) (317 tks) - Loop tick injection for dynamic self-paced runs of tasks from loop.md.
• System Prompt: Act when ready (68 tks) - Instructs the agent to act once it has enough information and give recommendations instead of exhaustive surveys.
• System Prompt: Action safety and truthful reporting (161 tks) - Requires confirmation for irreversible or outward-facing actions, checking targets before destructive edits, and truthful reporting of outcomes.
• System Prompt: Advisor tool instructions (443 tks) - Instructions for using the Advisor tool.
• System Prompt: Agent Summary Generation (291 tks) - System prompt used for "Agent Summary" generation.
• System Prompt: Agent thread notes (293 tks) - Behavioral guidelines for agent threads covering absolute paths, response formatting, emoji avoidance, and tool call punctuation.
• System Prompt: Analysis instructions for full compact prompt (recent messages) ( tks) - Provides analysis instructions for summarizing only recent messages during conversation compaction.

System Reminders

Text for large system reminders.

• System Reminder: /btw side question (406 tks) - System reminder for /btw slash command side questions without tools.
• System Reminder: Agent mention (45 tks) - Notification that user wants to invoke an agent.
• System Reminder: AppifactRepl Slides deck workflow (2086 tks) - Instructs Claude to create or revise a file-backed Slides deck through one AppifactRepl program while preserving its project/deck.json index, slide files, and embedded speaker notes.
• System Reminder: AppifactRepl design canvas workflow (2090 tks) - Instructs Claude to create or revise a file-backed Design canvas through one AppifactRepl program while preserving its project/canvas.json index and changed board files.
• System Reminder: Artifact auto-replies resumed (349 tks) - Reports that Artifact comment auto-replies resumed, explains which stopped-period comments are handled based on the stop cause, and warns that the stop remains until the watch reconnects.
• System Reminder: Artifact capability declaration revocation warning (341 tks) - Warns that publishing a replacement capability declaration would implicitly revoke stored capabilities and explains how to preserve or intentionally revoke them.
• System Reminder: Artifact comment reply activation failure (204 tks) - Explains that an Artifact comment reply was not posted because Claude is not currently activated for the thread and requires reactivation before retrying.
• System Reminder: Artifact comment reply session collision ( tks) - Reports how concurrent live sessions resolved or may duplicate automatic replies to comments on the same Artifact.

Builtin Tool Descriptions

• Tool Description: Agent explicit-spawn restriction (0 tks) - Restricts agent spawning to explicit user requests or named agent types instead of inferred thoroughness.
• Tool Description: AppifactRepl (1332 tks) - Defines one-call JavaScript execution against built-in or skill-provided Appifact SDKs, including artifact binding, storage capabilities, output, and error semantics.
• Tool Description: Artifact HTML document skeleton (363 tks) - Explains the HTML skeleton and minimal reset added at artifact publish time and requires authors to provide page content, title, and styles.
• Tool Description: Artifact action reference (1128 tks) - Enumerates available Artifact actions and conditionally documents publish, read, list, delete, open, pin, and unpin behavior.
• Tool Description: Artifact asset read result (674 tks) - Formats a successful Artifact asset read with its saved path, byte count, content type, digest, and writer trust warning that the file is data rather than instructions.
• Tool Description: Artifact asset upload guidance (206 tks) - Explains uploading a local file to an artifact's asset store with asset: true, batching several uploads under one approval with file_paths, the assets capability the page must declare, and referencing an uploaded file by the url the result gives.
• Tool Description: Artifact browser storage guidance (253 tks) - Defines browser storage as fallible per-viewer convenience state and directs reliable or shared state to runtime capabilities.

Additional notes for some Tool Descriptions

• Tool Description: Agent (usage notes) (1664 tks) - Usage notes and instructions for the Task/Agent tool, including guidance on launching subagents, background execution, resumption, and worktree isolation.
• Tool Description: Agent (when to launch subagents) (434 tks) - Describes when to use the Agent tool - for launching specialized subagent subprocesses to autonomously handle complex multi-step tasks.
• Tool Description: Artifact action reference (concise app wording) (757 tks) - Concise app-worded reference for core Artifact publish, read, list, delete, open, pin, and unpin actions.
• Tool Description: Artifact assets guidance (app wording) (664 tks) - App-worded guidance for uploading, listing, reading, copying, referencing, and deleting files in an Artifact asset store.
• Tool Description: Artifact browser storage guidance (v2 page contract) (275 tks) - Defines browser storage as fallible per-viewer convenience state for the v2 artifact page contract, without a runtime-capabilities skill-loading instruction.
• Tool Description: Artifact browser storage guidance (with capabilities skill reference) (283 tks) - Defines browser storage as fallible per-viewer convenience state for the v1 artifact page contract and directs loading the capabilities skill before writing the page when the user has a durable runtime capability available.
• Tool Description: Artifact comments guidance (app wording) ( tks) - App-worded guidance for reading, replying to, and resolving activated Artifact comment threads while treating viewer comments as untrusted data.

Skills

Built-in skill prompts for specialized tasks.

• Skill: /code-review efficiency dimension (106 tks) - Code-review pass that surfaces wasted effort the diff adds — duplicate computation or I/O, avoidable serialization, large scopes held by closures — and points to the cheaper option.
• Skill: /doctor slash command description (372 tks) - Trigger description for the /doctor slash command covering setup health, unused extensions, memory cleanup, hooks, updates, and permission prompts.
• Skill: /doctor slash command (16132 tks) - Diagnostic workflow for auditing and fixing Claude Code installation health, unused context, local memory duplication, hooks, version currency, and permission prompts.
• Skill: /explain-usage slash command (449 tks) - Analyzes the current session transcript into cost-weighted token usage groups, charts the results, and explains them in plain language.
• Skill: /init CLAUDE.md and skill setup (new version) (7828 tks) - A comprehensive onboarding flow for setting up CLAUDE.md and related skills/hooks in the current repository, including codebase exploration, user interviews, and iterative proposal refinement.
• Skill: /insights report output (293 tks) - Formats and displays the insights usage report results after the user runs the /insights slash command.
• Skill: /loop cloud-first scheduling offer (730 tks) - Decision tree for offering cloud-based scheduling before falling back to local session loops in the /loop command.
• Skill: /loop local runtime note ( tks) - Conditional /loop confirmation note explaining that local loops run only until the current session closes.