Your own instructions for the AI model

The Prompt Editor shows each role's read-only Default prompt, its variables, live preview, System prompt and structured output. Two German sentences are translated with the Default (Sie); a variant with a one-line house rule (du) is saved and given to the project, and the same sentences come back with du. The Prompt Viewer shows the prompt as sent.

1. Roles and their Default prompts

   Every AI task in AV is a role, and every role has a Default prompt: the instructions AV sends the AI model with your text.

   

2. Open Prompt Editor and choose a role

   From the main menu, Prompt Editor. Choose the role, here Single Segment Translation. Its Default prompt is read-only: to change it, you save a copy.

   

3. Check the Variables tab and Live preview

   The Variables tab lists what AV fills in: the source, the languages, the brief, the glossary. The Live preview shows the prompt as the AI model would receive it.

   

4. The System prompt

   Who the AI model is, written once: every translation and check prompt begins with the System prompt. Save your own under a name, use it for all projects, or give one project its own.

   

5. Schema ✓: structured output

   Schema ✓ means the prompt asks for structured output: an answer in fixed fields that AV can read reliably. Where an AI model can't do that, AV asks for plain text instead.

   

6. Turn on Settings, Diagnostics — Prompt Inspector

   To see later what was sent, turn it on first: Settings, Diagnostics — Prompt Inspector, tick it and Save. It keeps each prompt as sent, after masking.

   

7. Translate with the Default prompt (Ctrl+Shift+M)

   Two sentences of the dealer notice, translated with the Default prompt (Ctrl+Shift+M). German has a polite Sie and a familiar du; the Default chose Sie.

   

8. Click Save As…, add the house rule in Source XML and Save

   Thistlecombe writes to its dealers with du. In the Prompt Editor, Save As… names a copy, Dealers-du; in Source XML add one line, the house rule, and Save. The preview shows it.

   

9. In the project's LLM Configuration, click Change Prompt and choose the variant

   Open the project, LLM Configuration. On Single Segment Translation, Change Prompt and choose Dealers-du. This project now uses it; other projects keep the Default.

   

10. Translate the same sentences again

    Translate the two sentences again. Now the dealer is du: überprüfe, du, deine. One line in the prompt changed every sentence it touches.

    

11. Click the bug icon in the status bar to open the Prompt Viewer

    The bug icon in the status bar opens the Prompt Viewer: each call, newest first, with the prompt as sent, the variant it came from, and the reply. Here, the house rule went out with the sentence.

    

12. To go back, Change Prompt and choose Default

    To go back, Change Prompt and choose Default again. The variant stays in the Prompt Editor for another project, or you delete it there.

    

13. Test a variant on your own text first

    Test a variant on your own text, and look in the Prompt Viewer. Video recorded on 5 November 2026 with AV 0.2.11; the translations on 21 October 2026. Another model may answer differently.