Claude Prompt Shortcuts
About this resource
Most people type the same kind of request every day and get the same kind of answer back. A prefix changes that in one word. This free reference sheet collects one hundred prompt shortcuts across ten categories, from writing and reasoning through to research, analysis, coding, and learning. You type the code at the very start of your message, then your request, and the response comes back shaped differently.
Two formats run through the sheet. Lowercase codes beginning with a slash, and uppercase keywords. Both work the same way and both sit at the front of the message. The ten categories cover writing and style, artifacts and creation, thinking and reasoning, learning, analysis and strategy, creative and content, coding, research, power commands, and a final set of modes for when you want a blunter or more thorough answer than you would normally get.
These are not built-in Claude features
Every code on this sheet is a user-written prompt prefix rather than a command Claude recognizes internally. They work because Claude reads the plain-language instruction behind the shorthand, which means results vary with wording and context, and nothing breaks if you invent your own. This is an independent reference sheet from The Jonesi Consultancy. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced by Anthropic.
The codes are not magic words. Each one is a compressed instruction, which is why they work in Claude.ai, Claude Code, and the API alike, and why you can write your own the moment you know what you are actually asking for.
How to use it
Pick three codes and use them this week rather than reading all one hundred. The sheet is a menu, not a syllabus, and almost everybody settles on a handful they reach for constantly. The most useful place to start is the reasoning and analysis sections, because those change what the answer contains rather than only how it is worded. Once a few become habit, the underlying pattern becomes obvious and you will start writing your own.
Inside the download
Ten writing codes covering plain output, tighter sentences, a locked tone, and matching a sample of your own writing.
Reasoning codes that make the model work through its logic, argue the opposite case, or answer at surface, mid, and expert levels at once.
Learning codes that produce practice exercises, find what you did not know to ask, or teach a topic from beginner to advanced.
Analysis codes that attack your idea, assume the plan already failed, or find the small number of actions carrying most of the result.
Common questions
No. They are user-written prefixes rather than features Claude recognizes internally. They work because the model reads the plain-language instruction the shorthand stands for, which is also why results vary with wording and context, and why you can invent your own without anything breaking.
Type the code at the very start of your message, then your request. Lowercase codes use a leading slash and uppercase codes are typed as a keyword, but both sit in the same position. A colon after the code and before your request reads naturally and works consistently.
Yes. Because each code is a compressed plain-language instruction rather than a product feature, the same prefix behaves the same way in Claude.ai, in Claude Code, and through the API. The same principle also means most of them transfer to other assistants.
Free. No email list, no follow-up sequence.
More from the resource library, chosen because they pair well with this one.
Eight reusable prompt structures that transfer to work you have not encountered yet.
Six before-and-after prompt pairs that show exactly what changes when a vague request becomes a specific one.
What these tools do genuinely well and where they reliably fail, so you can assign work correctly the first time.
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