Stop writing lazy AI prompts: a hotkey that structures them for you

reven — Sun, 31 May 2026 08:23:11 +0000

Most "bad AI answers" aren't a model problem. They're a prompt problem.

You type something like:

fix the auth bug

…and the model fires back three clarifying questions, or confidently fixes the wrong thing. So you rephrase, retry, and lose ten minutes per task. The gap between what you mean and what the model can act on is structure.

Anthropic's own prompt-engineering docs are clear about what good structure looks like: give the model a role, context, the task, and an explicit output format — ideally with XML-style tags. The problem is doing that by hand, every time, in every app. Nobody does.

So I built a hotkey for it

It's a small desktop app called Prompt Enhancer. The flow is:

Select any rough draft in any app (editor, chat box, browser field)
Press a hotkey — Ctrl+Alt+P (or Control-Option-Cmd-P on macOS)
Your text is replaced in place with a structured prompt

No copy-paste, no second tab, a few seconds.

Before / after

Before:

help me with a python parser for nested json

After:

<role>experienced Python developer</role>
<task>parse a nested JSON structure</task>
<instructions>
  - use json + jsonpath-ng
  - handle missing keys gracefully
  - include example usage
</instructions>
<output_format>working code + 3 examples</output_format>

Same intent in, far more useful answer out.

How it works under the hood

Calls Claude Haiku to do the restructuring (fast + cheap)
Bring your own API key — your text goes straight to Anthropic, not through anyone's server. The key lives in your OS keychain.
macOS build is native Swift; Windows is Tauri/Rust
Works in any text field (Accessibility API on macOS, UI Automation on Windows, clipboard fallback for Electron/web apps)
Presets for different styles: Default, Concise, Verbose, and Code

It's free to try (a handful of demo calls on a shared key), then free forever with your own key.

Try it / tell me it's wrong

Link: https://promptenhancer.online/

I'd genuinely like feedback on two things: (1) whether the restructured output actually helps in your workflow or gets in the way, and (2) which presets you'd want that don't exist yet. If you try it, drop a comment — happy to iterate.

DEV Community: reven

Stop writing lazy AI prompts: a hotkey that structures them for you

So I built a hotkey for it

Before / after

How it works under the hood

Try it / tell me it's wrong