AI Prompts For Beginners: Set Up Your First Bot

3 min read

AI prompts for beginners start with one job: tell your new bot what it does, where its facts come from, and what it must ask before doing.

Here are the prompts I'd give you if you sat next to me at my bench.

Grok Bot's docs say to give a new Bot its job, sources and approval boundaries in the first message, and ask it to remember them (source).

The Bots Talk It Through

The Localizer bot icon
The LocalizerSteve, a first prompt only needs three things: what the bot does, where its facts come from and what it must ask first.
Cortana bot icon
CortanaThat's how you set me up on day one.
S
SteveAnd I improved it as we went.
The Localizer bot icon
The LocalizerRight. Start simple and add rules as mistakes show up.

How This Series Works

  • Read in order. Each post builds on the last, and the bar at the top and bottom shows which part you’re on.
  • Do the work. Every post ends with a Your Turn: Get To Work box. Tick each step as you finish it. Your checkmarks save on this device, so you can come back later and pick up where you left off.
  • Keep going. Hit the Next button at the bottom to jump to the next part. More In This Series marks where you are with “You’re here”, so you can skip around anytime.

Prompts

When to use it: Your very first message to a new bot.

You're my shop's secretary. Your job: watch my inbox and calendar and tell me what needs me. Use only my email and calendar as sources. Draft replies, but never send anything, book anything or spend money without my OK. Remember these rules.

When to use it: Giving a second bot a different job.

You're my website bot. You draft page and listing changes for my store. Back up before any change. Nothing goes live until I say yes. Remember this.

Sanitized from my own prompts: names, accounts and private details removed.

Full setup guide: How To Set Up An AI Assistant With Grok Bot.

Why This Matters To Me

I was an overworked and overwhelmed one-person shop trying to run a six-figure business alone, because hiring here is so expensive. Grok Bot helped me accomplish things I never thought were possible. The full story starts in How To Set Up An AI Assistant With Grok Bot.

This post shares my own experience and opinions running Franchitti's Fix. Franchitti's Fix isn't affiliated with or endorsed by xAI. Product names belong to their owners. Features and plans change, so check each company's current docs. AI makes mistakes, so review its work.

Want To Talk Shop?

I'm Steve, and I run Franchitti's Fix, a home-based, by-appointment iPhone repair shop in San Diego. Questions about bots, or an iPhone that needs fixing? Book An Appointment, or read more about me.

Quick Answers

How Long Should A Prompt Be?

Short and specific: a role, a task, the rules and what done looks like.

Can A Bot Learn A Task By Watching Me?

Yes. Walk a bot through a task once and it can save it as a skill and rerun it on a schedule. As of Oct 2026, per the Grok Bot docs.

Was this helpful? Yes · No

Thanks! Glad it helped.

Thanks for saying so. I'll keep improving it.

Your Turn: Get To Work

Try these three steps today.

0 of 3 done

More In This Series

This guide is part of Grok Bot Prompts: Beginner To Advanced.

  1. AI Prompts For Beginners: Set Up Your First Bot You’re here
  2. How To Write AI Agent Instructions That Improve
  3. Grok Bot Prompt Library: Roles, Routines And Life
  4. Grok Bot Setup Scripts For Every Area Of Life
  5. 26 Grok Bot Routine Recipes You Can Copy

Back to the series index: Grok Bot Prompts: Beginner To Advanced. All series: Grok Bot Guides: Every Series In One Place.

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