Custom system prompts
The name "custom system prompt" oversells this a little, so it's worth being precise about what you're actually getting when you open the AI Behavior tab in Settings.
What's really there
ShopGuide builds the AI's real system prompt itself, out of roughly fifteen fixed sections — identity, available tools, response rules, language handling, store context, and so on. You don't see or edit those directly.
What you can edit is a single free-text box. Whatever you type gets tacked onto the end of that built prompt, under a heading that reads "Additional instructions from the shop owner." It applies in the main chat flow and, when relevant, in the specialized prompts the intent router builds for specific question types.
In practice, people use it for things like:
- Brand voice ("always sign off with our tagline")
- Store facts worth repeating ("we're closed for inventory the last week of each month")
- Priorities ("mention the loyalty program whenever pricing comes up")
Where the edges are
You don't get to touch the AI's role definition, its tool access, or its language behavior — those stay fixed. This is an addition, not a swap: your text sits on top of the built-in instructions rather than replacing them. There's no variable system, no conditional logic tied to page or customer type, no separate config for when escalation should trigger. Just one block of plain text.
Keep it short and unambiguous. Because it's appended after ShopGuide's own rules — about tool usage, honesty on inventory and pricing, language — instructions that conflict with those rules tend to get ignored or produce inconsistent behavior. Think of it as a supplement: extra context and tone guidance, not a way to redefine how the assistant works.