Prompt Templates with Variables: Reusable AI Prompts for ChatGPT, Claude & Gemini

#ai #webdev #productivity #chatgpt

Most of the prompts I reuse aren't fixed text — they're almost the same every time, with one or two things swapped. "Rewrite this for a technical audience." "…for a beginner audience." "Summarize in 3 bullets." "…in 5 bullets." Retyping the whole thing to change one word is how good prompts quietly rot in your chat history.

The fix is templates with variables. Here's the idea, and a free Chrome extension that makes it one click.

What a prompt template is

A template is a prompt with placeholders you fill at send time instead of editing the text:

Rewrite the text below in a {{tone}} tone for a {{audience}} audience.
Keep it under {{word_count}} words.

---
{{text}}

Save it once. Each time you use it, you fill in tone, audience, word_count, and paste text — one template, dozens of variations, zero retyping. The wording of the instruction (the part you tuned carefully) never changes, so the quality stays consistent.

The manual version (and why it drags)

You can fake this with a notes doc: keep the template as plain text, copy it into the chat box, then manually find-and-replace {{tone}} before sending. It works, but you're tab-switching and hand-editing placeholders every single time — and it's easy to send a prompt with a {{variable}} you forgot to fill.

PromptStash: variables, one-click insert

PromptStash is a free Chrome extension that stores prompt templates and inserts them straight into the chat box — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and more.

Save a prompt with {{variables}} in it
Organize it into a folder
On insert, PromptStash prompts you to fill each variable
The finished prompt drops directly into the chat box — no tab-switching

Because it fills the variables for you, you can't accidentally send a raw {{placeholder}}.

A few templates worth saving

Code review: Review the {{language}} code below for {{focus}} (bugs / style / performance). Be specific.
Explain an error: Explain this {{language}} error in plain terms and give the most likely fix: {{error}}
Commit message: Write a conventional commit message for this diff. Scope: {{scope}}.

Save each once; fill the blanks per use.

Free vs Pro

Free: up to 10 prompts, folders, and variables — enough to templatize your daily few
Pro ($5.99/mo): unlimited prompts and folders, prompt chaining, a prompt quality score, PII masking (strip names/emails before they hit the model), and import/export

The PII masking is the one I'd point a team at — it catches the "oops, I pasted a customer's email into ChatGPT" problem before it happens.