Custom instructions
Tell ChatGPT who you are and how you want it to respond once, every new chat picks it up automatically, no re-typing needed.
Custom instructions are your standing order
By default, every new ChatGPT chat starts completely blank. The model knows nothing about you, your job, your preferences, how you like information formatted. You end up explaining the same context in every session.
Custom instructions fix this. They are a short block of text you write once and save in your settings. Whenever you start a new regular chat, ChatGPT automatically includes your instructions before the conversation begins, you never have to repeat yourself.
There are two parts: who you are and what you do (background, role, relevant context), and how you want ChatGPT to respond (tone, length, format, things to avoid). Neither part is required, fill in whatever actually matters for your work.
Setting up custom instructions takes about two minutes. Follow these four steps.
Open Settings
Click on your profile icon or name in ChatGPT, usually found in the top-right or bottom-left corner of the screen. From the menu that appears, select Settings.
Go to Personalization
Inside Settings, look for a section called Personalization or Custom Instructions. The exact label may vary slightly depending on which version or plan of ChatGPT you are using.
Fill in both boxes
The first box is for who you are and what you do, your role, industry, and anything ChatGPT should always know as background. The second box is for how you want it to respond, tone, level of detail, and anything it should always or never include.
Save and start a new chat
Save your instructions, then open a fresh chat to see them in action. Custom instructions apply to new chats only, any conversation that was already open before you saved will not pick them up.
Summarize the key risks in this vendor contract.
Here is a summary of key risks typically found in vendor contracts: 1. Liability limitations, the vendor may cap their liability at a low amount. 2. Indemnification, check who is responsible if a third party brings a claim. 3. Termination clauses, understand the notice period and exit conditions. 4. Intellectual property, confirm you own any work product produced for you. 5. Data handling, verify how the vendor stores and protects your information. Let me know if you would like me to look at any section in more detail.
Summarize the key risks in this vendor contract.
Three risks worth flagging to your legal team: 1. Liability cap, vendor limits exposure to one month of fees, which is low for a data-processing agreement. 2. Auto-renewal, contract renews for 12 months unless cancelled 60 days before the anniversary date. 3. Data deletion, no explicit timeline for data deletion after termination; worth specifying. Want me to draft suggested language for any of these?
Toggle instructions, watch the reply change
Same question every time. Turn instruction rules on and off below and watch the AI's reply update live, that's instructions steering output.
Your question
"Write an update email about our project delay."
Your instructions
None set, the AI falls back to a generic, one-size-fits-all reply.
Question 1 of 4
When do custom instructions take effect?