Table of Contents
01 What is Prompt Assistant?
Prompt Assistant is a powerful snippet manager that lives in your system tray and puts your most-used text, prompts, and code snippets just a hotkey away. Whether you’re pasting AI prompts, boilerplate emails, code templates, or canned responses, Prompt Assistant lets you organize everything into nested menus, trigger them with hotkeys or hotstrings, and paste them into any window instantly.
Key Benefits
- Instant Access — Press a hotkey and your entire snippet library pops up as a right-click style menu. Pick any item and it’s pasted into the active window automatically.
- Organized Menus — Group your snippets into nested submenus with custom icons, dividers, and labels so you can find what you need in seconds.
- Hotkeys & Hotstrings — Assign a keyboard shortcut or a short abbreviation to any snippet. Type a few letters and watch it expand into full paragraphs.
- Run Scripts Inline — Snippets aren’t limited to plain text. Prefix a snippet with
{RunAHK}and Prompt Assistant will execute it as a live AutoHotkey script. - AI Screenshot Mode — Select an area of your screen, pick a prompt from the menu, and send both to the AI Prompt Assistant module for intelligent image analysis.
- Import & Export — Share your menus with teammates or back them up as tab-delimited files. Import menus from others in one click.
02 Installation & First Launch
System Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 or later |
| AutoHotkey | v2.0+ (32-bit) — only needed if running from source (.ahk). The compiled (.exe) version runs standalone. |
| Internet | Required for license validation on startup. Works offline for up to 120 days after last check. |
How do you install Prompt Assistant?
- Download Prompt Assistant from the-Automator.com/PromptAssist
- Extract the zip file to a folder of your choice
- Double-click
Prompt Assistant.exe(orPrompt Assistant.ahkif running from source) - The app creates a
data.dbSQLite database on first run to store your snippets and preferences - The customization window appears automatically (you can turn this off later in Preferences)
Want Prompt Assistant ready every time you boot up? Go to Preferences → Add to Startup and it will launch automatically when Windows starts.
03 Quick Start
Here’s everything you need to start using Prompt Assistant right away:
Primary Actions
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Show your snippet menu | Win + Right-Click |
| Open the customization window | Win + Shift + Right-Click |
| Paste a snippet | Click any item in the menu — it’s pasted into the active window |
| Copy to clipboard (don’t paste) | Hold Shift while clicking a menu item |
| Edit a snippet from the menu | Hold Ctrl while clicking a menu item |
| AI Screenshot mode | Turn on CapsLock, then Win + Left-Click and drag to select an area |
Keyboard Shortcuts (Customization Window)
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Delete | Delete the selected item (when the ListView or TreeView is focused) |
Double-click | Edit a text item or navigate into a submenu |
04 The Customization Window
This is where you build and organize your snippet library. The window has two main panels and a toolbar of action buttons.
4.1 Submenus Panel (Left Side)
The left panel shows a TreeView of all your submenus. Click any submenu to see its contents on the right. The tree always starts with a “Main” root — this is the top level of your popup menu.
4.2 Items Panel (Right Side)
The right panel shows a ListView with all items in the currently selected submenu. Each row shows the item’s Type, Label, Hotkey, Hotstring, and Snippet content. Hidden columns store the item’s ID, parent, icon, and position.
4.3 Breadcrumbs
Above the ListView you’ll see a Path showing where you are in the menu tree (e.g., “Main > AI Prompts > ChatGPT”). This updates as you navigate.
4.4 Toolbar Buttons
| Button | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Add | Opens the Add Item dialog to create a new snippet, submenu, or divider |
| Edit | Opens the Edit dialog for the selected item |
| Delete | Removes the selected item (asks for confirmation if enabled in Preferences) |
| Move Up / Move Down | Changes the position of the selected item. Hold Ctrl to jump to the very top or bottom |
| Alpha Sort | Sorts all items in the current submenu alphabetically by label |
4.5 Filter
The Filter box lets you search across all your snippets. Type at least 3 characters and the ListView updates in real time, showing any item whose label, hotstring, or snippet text matches your search.
4.6 Save, Save & Close, Cancel
Save writes all your changes to the database and rebuilds the popup menu. Save & Close does the same and hides the window. Cancel discards unsaved changes and reloads the last saved state.
Changes you make in the customization window are held in memory until you click Save. If the app closes unexpectedly, unsaved changes will be lost.
05 Adding & Editing Items
Click the Add button (or edit an existing item) to open the item editor. Every item has a type, a label, and optional trigger settings.
5.1 Item Types
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| TXT (Text) | A text snippet that gets pasted into the active window when triggered. This is the most common type. |
| MENU (Submenu) | A folder that contains other items. When clicked in the popup menu, it opens a submenu. |
| DIV (Divider) | A horizontal separator line in the popup menu. Helps visually organize your items. |
5.2 Item Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Label | The name that appears in the popup menu and in the customization list |
| Hotkey | A keyboard shortcut (e.g., Ctrl+Alt+P) that triggers this snippet from anywhere. Optional. Check the “Win” checkbox to add the Windows key modifier. |
| Hotstring | A short abbreviation that expands into the snippet when you type it (e.g., type “btw” and it becomes “by the way”). Optional. |
| Snippet | The actual text content that will be pasted or executed. This is where you write your prompt, template, or script. |
| Icon | A custom icon that displays next to the item in the popup menu. Click the icon area to choose a new one. |
In the customization window, double-click any text item to open the edit dialog, or double-click a submenu to navigate into it.
06 Hotkeys & Hotstrings
Both hotkeys and hotstrings are optional — you can use the popup menu alone if you prefer. But if you have snippets you use constantly, assigning a trigger makes them lightning fast.
6.1 Hotkeys
A hotkey is a keyboard shortcut like Ctrl+Alt+P. When you press it, the snippet is pasted into whatever window is currently active. To set one, click the Hotkey field in the item editor and press your desired key combination. Check the Win checkbox to include the Windows key.
6.2 Hotstrings
A hotstring is a short abbreviation that auto-expands into your full snippet. For example, you could set the hotstring gprompt to expand into your favorite ChatGPT system prompt. Just type the abbreviation anywhere and the full text appears.
Keep hotstrings unique and avoid common words. If you set “the” as a hotstring, it will expand every time you type “the” — probably not what you want! Use short, distinctive abbreviations.
6.3 Visual Indicators in the Menu
When you open the popup menu, items with assigned triggers show small indicators next to their label:
- A yellow square indicator shows the hotstring abbreviation
- A blue diamond indicator shows the hotkey combination
07 Running AHK Scripts from Snippets
Prompt Assistant isn’t just for text — it can run AutoHotkey scripts directly from your snippet library. This turns your menu into a personal automation launcher.
7.1 How do you run an AutoHotkey script from a snippet?
Start your snippet with the {RunAHK} tag, followed by the script code. When you trigger this snippet, instead of pasting text, Prompt Assistant saves the code to a temp file and runs it with the bundled AutoHotkey executable.
7.2 Tag Variations
| Tag | Runs With |
|---|---|
{RunAHK} | AHK v2 64-bit (Default) |
{RunAHKv1} | AHK v1 64-bit |
{RunAHKv2-32} | AHK v2 32-bit |
{RunAHKv1-32} | AHK v1 32-bit |
7.3 Example
MsgBox “Hello from Prompt Assistant!”
Script execution must be enabled in Preferences → Run Snippets {RunAHK}. It’s on by default. The bundled AHK executables must be present in the res/ folder.
08 AI Screenshot Integration
Prompt Assistant includes a built-in AI screenshot mode that lets you capture a region of your screen and pair it with a prompt from your menu — then send both to the AI Prompt Assistant module for intelligent analysis.
8.1 How do you use AI Screenshot Mode?
- Turn on
CapsLock(this activates screenshot mode) - Press
Win + Left-Clickand drag to select the area you want to capture - A red semi-transparent overlay follows your selection so you can see exactly what you’re capturing
- Release the mouse button — a preview of your screenshot appears
- The snippet menu automatically pops up — pick a prompt to pair with your screenshot
- Both the image and the prompt are sent to the AI Prompt Assistant module
Use this feature to analyze error messages, extract text from images, get code explanations, describe UI layouts, or ask questions about anything visible on your screen.
09 Import & Export
Share your snippet collections with others or back them up using the Import and Export features. Both use tab-delimited (.tsv) files.
9.1 Exporting a Menu
- In the TreeView, select the submenu you want to export
- Click the Export button
- Choose a save location — the file is named after your submenu by default (e.g.,
AI Prompts-menu-export.tsv) - The entire submenu tree is exported, including all nested items and icons
9.2 Importing a Menu
- Click the Import button
- Select a
.tsvfile to import - If the filename starts with a name followed by a dash (e.g., “MyPrompts-export.tsv”), that name is used as the menu name. Otherwise, you’ll be asked to enter one.
- The imported items are added to your database and appear in the tree immediately
The TSV file must have the correct header row: Type, Label, Hotkey, Hotstring, Snippet, id, Parent, b64Icon, Pos. Files exported from Prompt Assistant already have this format.
10 Preferences
Access preferences from the menu bar (Preferences) inside the customization window, or from the tray icon’s Options entry.
10.1 Quick Toggles (Menu Bar)
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Display On Startup | Show the customization window automatically when Prompt Assistant launches | On |
| Show Tooltips | Display helpful tooltips when you hover over buttons and fields in the customization window | On |
| Confirm Delete | Ask “Are you sure?” before deleting items | On |
| Run Snippets {RunAHK} | Enable execution of snippets that start with the {RunAHK} tag | On |
| Restore Clipboard | After pasting a snippet, restore your clipboard to whatever was there before | On |
| Add to Startup | Launch Prompt Assistant automatically when Windows starts | Off |
| Check for Updates | Automatically check for new versions when the app starts | On |
10.2 Options Dialog
For more advanced settings — including configuring the hotkeys for showing the menu and opening the customization window, and setting library paths for AHK v1/v2 scripts — select Preferences → Options or right-click the tray icon and choose Options.
10.3 Default Hotkeys
| Hotkey | Action |
|---|---|
Win + Right-Click | Show the snippet popup menu |
Win + Shift + Right-Click | Open the customization window |
Win + Left-Click (with CapsLock on) | AI Screenshot capture mode |
11 Tray Icon & Menu
Prompt Assistant lives in your system tray (the small icons near your clock). Right-click the tray icon to see these options:
| Menu Item | Action |
|---|---|
| Customize Menu | Opens the customization window (this is the default action — double-click the tray icon for the same result) |
| Show Menu | Shows the snippet popup menu |
| Open Folder | Opens the folder where Prompt Assistant is installed |
| Options | Opens the Preferences / Options dialog |
| Reload | Restarts the script (only visible in the compiled version) |
| Exit | Closes Prompt Assistant |
12 Tips & Troubleshooting
General Tips
- Organize with submenus — Create category folders like “AI Prompts”, “Email Templates”, “Code Snippets” to keep things manageable as your library grows.
- Use Shift+Click to preview — If you want to copy a snippet to clipboard without pasting, hold Shift when you click the menu item. A notification will confirm the copy.
- Search with the Filter — Don’t scroll through hundreds of items. Use the Filter box in the customization window to find snippets by name, abbreviation, or content.
- Clipboard is preserved — By default, Prompt Assistant restores your clipboard after pasting. Your previous clipboard content is safe.
- Back up your database — Your entire snippet library lives in
data.db. Copy this file to keep a backup of all your work. - Export before sharing — Use the Export feature to share specific submenus as .tsv files rather than copying the whole database.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Solution |
|---|---|
| App won’t start — “No internet connection” | Prompt Assistant needs to verify your license online. Check your internet connection. The app works offline for up to 120 days after the last successful check. |
| Snippet doesn’t paste into the active window | Some applications block Ctrl+V paste. Make sure the target window is active and the cursor is in a text field. Try clicking into the text field first, then use the menu. |
| {RunAHK} snippet doesn’t execute | Make sure “Run Snippets {RunAHK}” is enabled in Preferences. Also verify the res/ folder contains the bundled AHK executables (ahkv1-32.bak, ahkv1-64.bak, ahkv2-32.bak, ahkv2-64.bak). |
| Changes disappeared after closing | You probably closed the window without clicking Save. Always click Save or Save & Close before exiting the customization window. |
| Hotkey doesn’t work | Another application may be using the same shortcut. Try a different key combination. Also make sure you’ve saved your changes — hotkeys are only active after saving. |
| Import fails with “Invalid menu file” | The TSV file must have the correct column headers. Make sure the file was exported from Prompt Assistant and hasn’t been modified in a way that changed the header row. |
License: CC-BY-4.0
Created: April 2023 • Last Modified: June 2025
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