---
audience: power_user
summary: Inspect and tune the prompt assembly before turns. See what the AI sees.
title: Use the prompt studio
path: tutorials/power-user/use-prompt-studio
status: published
---

# Use the prompt studio

The prompt studio shows you the exact prompt the AI receives on
each turn — every system block, plugin context, conversation
history, and tool definition. You can edit, preview the result, and
optionally apply changes as live overrides.

## Who can use it

By default, prompt studio is gated by tenant feature flag
(`features.prompt_studio.enabled`) and a role/group allowlist. Ask
your admin if you don't see the button.

## Open it

Chat header → **🧪 Prompt Studio**. Right pane swaps to a two-column
view:

- **Inputs** (left) — every knob that affects the prompt: system
  prompt override, sampling parameters, response mode, plugin
  loadout, target AI.
- **Preview** (right) — the rendered prompt with each block
  labelled by source and priority.

## What you see in the preview

Every block has a header showing:

- **Source** — `system_prompt`, `plugin:scaiwave.notes`,
  `room_summary`, `prev_session_summary`, `active_plan`, `tool_etiquette`, etc.
- **Priority** — integer; higher = closer to the user message.
  Useful when the prompt gets trimmed for budget.
- **Token count** — approximate; lets you see what's dominating the
  context.

The user message and assistant turns are shown at the bottom, in
chronological order, with their own priority bands.

## Make a change

Edit any of the inputs:

- **System prompt** — overrides the AI's default. Use the textarea.
- **Temperature / top_p / max_tokens** — sliders.
- **Plugins** — enable/disable per-plugin.
- **Trigger text** — what to imagine the user typing next, for the
  preview's user-turn block.
- **Target AI** — pick which AI in a multi-AI room to apply to.

Click **Preview** — the right column re-renders with your changes
applied. Nothing is committed yet.

## Apply or run

Three actions on a previewed override:

- **Apply to live room** — persist as per-(room × AI) overrides.
  All future turns in this room with this AI use these settings
  until you clear them.
- **Run** (sandbox) — invoke the AI *once* with the previewed
  prompt, see the response *inline in the studio*. Doesn't affect
  the live room.
- **Clear live override** — reset to AI defaults for this room.

The applied override panel at the top of the studio shows what's
currently live for this room+AI; cleared status is reflected
immediately.

## What this is good for

- **Tuning a system prompt** — "I want the AI to default to
  bulleted lists in this room. What works?"
- **Debugging a bad response** — "Why did it call the wrong tool?
  Let me see the actual prompt."
- **Calibrating temperature** — "Is this too hot? Run with 0.3
  and see."
- **Plugin loadout experiments** — "Does removing the calendar
  plugin make the AI faster on conversational tasks?"

## What it is *not*

- Not a chat substitute. The sandbox run is for inspection; if you
  want a real reply that lands in the room, just chat.
- Not where you'd build a custom AI from scratch — that's
  admin-level participant config.
- Not a place to put secrets. Anything you type into the system
  prompt override is stored in Redis under the room's override
  key; admins and people with the room can see it.

## Where to go next

- [Concepts: AI engagement](/docs/scaiwave/concepts/ai-engagement) — what each knob does.
- API: [Prompt Studio](/docs/scaiwave/reference/api/prompt-studio).