Why ChatGPT prompts need somewhere to live
ChatGPT has some prompt-saving features. Custom Instructions. Project Custom Instructions. Saved prompts inside GPTs. They work, inside ChatGPT. The moment you switch to a new thread, or to a different tool (Claude, Cursor, the Claude Code CLI), the prompt is back in your head.
If you've settled on a prompt that actually produces good output, you want it everywhere. Not just inside one vendor's chat window.
The Refrain approach
Refrain is a Mac menu bar app for any text you reuse: email replies, signatures, support replies, templates, code snippets, and AI prompts. Your ChatGPT prompts become snippets in that list. Click one, it's on the clipboard, paste anywhere with Cmd-V. ChatGPT web. ChatGPT desktop. Claude. Cursor. Terminal. A DM. If you prefer the keyboard, press Control-Option-Space, type a few letters, and press Return. The app you were in stays in front.
The storage is a single markdown file on your disk. You choose where it goes on first launch. Once it's set up, there's little to configure. The app is a menu-bar icon and a shortcut.
Three patterns that pay back immediately
1. Your reusable system prompts
"You are a senior editor; rewrite the following in plain English, avoid em dashes, break parallel structure..." That kind of thing. Set it up once in Refrain. Paste at the top of every ChatGPT thread.
2. Review prompts
A good review prompt is specific: "Look for nuances. Look for things I might have forgotten. Note any TODOs hiding inside comments." If yours works, save it in Refrain with a name like review-pass-nuances. Next time you need a code or doc review, click once.
3. Planning prompts
Before you start a big task, a planning prompt that forces step-by-step thinking is the highest-ROI thing you can paste. Write yours once, give it a name like plan-step-by-step, and it's ready for every new thread. Refrain's 13 starter snippets include two AI prompts, summarize and proofread, alongside everyday text like your email signature and meeting link, so your own planning prompts sit next to them.
What about ChatGPT Projects and Custom Instructions?
These are good inside ChatGPT. Custom Instructions sets a persistent system prompt for every thread. Projects group threads and can share a prompt. Use them.
They stop being enough when:
- You also use Claude, Cursor, or a Claude Code CLI. Those don't read ChatGPT's Custom Instructions.
- You want a prompt that's ad-hoc, not always-on. Custom Instructions are global per account. Refrain is opt-in per paste.
- You want to see your prompts without opening chat. Refrain's list is in the menu bar.
Getting set up
A five-minute starting point:
- Install Refrain. On first launch, choose where to save the snippet file. Dropbox or iCloud is a reasonable choice if you use more than one Mac.
- Look over the 13 starter snippets (email signature, meeting link, follow-up, support replies, summarize, proofread, and more). Edit the ones you'll use and delete the rest.
- Copy your top three ChatGPT prompts into Refrain. Give them names you'll recognize three weeks from now.
- Try the shortcut: Control-Option-Space opens a search palette over whatever app you're in. You can switch to another preset or turn it off in Settings.
Why a plain file matters for ChatGPT users
ChatGPT, Claude, and every other model change. Providers come and go. Pricing shifts. If your best prompts are trapped inside one vendor's UI, you're tied to that vendor for the work of moving them. Refrain stores them in plain markdown, which outlives any single model.
Your prompts are worth keeping. Store them somewhere you can read without an account, alongside the rest of the text you reuse.