TL;DR: A Redditor built one standing prompt that tells an AI to review what it already did, finish whatever fits in the context left, then spend the leftover budget setting up the next session so it doesn’t start cold.
Anyone who runs long AI sessions knows the wall. You’re deep into a project, the context window is filling up, and the model either grinds past the point where its output is still useful, or it just stops with no plan for picking things back up. u/greentide008 hit that wall often enough to build a fix: a boilerplate prompt they drop in mid-session to keep the work pointed in the right direction.
The prompt was written for their own setup, a system called Loop MMT, so a few of the terms won’t translate straight into ChatGPT or Claude. But the shape of it, look back, do the reachable work, then prep the handoff, holds up no matter what tool you’re running.
What The Prompt Is Actually Asking For
Strip out the specific vocabulary and the instruction breaks into five moves:
- Look back at what’s been done on this exact thread of work
- Look ahead at what’s still coming
- Finish whatever work fits in the session that’s left
- Spend any spare context turning it into handoff material
- Stop around 85 to 90 percent used, not at the hard limit
That last point matters more than it looks. Most people either run a session dry or bail early and waste the budget they had. Stopping in that 80s-to-90s range leaves just enough room to close things out properly instead of getting cut off mid-thought.
The Cistern, Explained
One term in the prompt needs unpacking, and the original poster covered it in the comments. The “Cistern” is where spare context at the end of a session goes. Instead of just ending the chat, the model uses whatever room is left to derive things that would be expensive to redo from scratch, so the next session opens with a head start instead of a blank tank.
That’s the actual insight here. Most handoff notes just summarize what happened. This treats the last few minutes of a session as a small investment in the next one.
The Work Hierarchy
The prompt also leans on a layered system: Story Pole, Capstan, Tickets, Notes. You don’t need those exact names to use the idea. The pattern underneath is a big-picture thread (the story), a mechanism that pulls day-to-day work forward (the capstan), discrete units of work (tickets), and a running log (notes). If you already track work in a project doc, a Kanban board, or even a plain markdown file, you’ve got the same four layers under a different label.
Use Cases
- A multi-day coding project where the AI keeps losing track of what’s already been built
- A content pipeline running across several sessions, where each one needs to pick up mid-workflow
- Research work spread over weeks, where re-deriving context every time gets expensive
Prompt Of The Day
You have a lot of context left, you need to look back at what we have done so far in our direct past on this direct workline, what we will be built in the path in front of us, then do whatever work you can that fits in this remaining session, before filling the Cistern with any spare drops of context and ending the high 80s/low 90s before running a good handoff and picking up the work on a fresh tank in the next session. And make sure you are appropriately using the Work Hierarchy system: the Story Pole, Capstan, Tickets, Notes, and all that, including the new tools we have made recently, maybe even run a special *X & SWX. Formalize when it makes sense and Determinism-first thinking. Use all the tools and resources at the right time.
It works because it does three things at once: it forces a review step before any new output, so the model doesn’t drift from earlier decisions, it sets an explicit stop condition instead of letting the session run to failure, and it pushes for “determinism” over improvisation, meaning repeatable steps over one-off guesses whenever a repeatable step is available.
Two ways to adapt it for your own setup: swap “Cistern” and “Work Hierarchy” for whatever tracking system you already use (a Notion doc, a tickets folder, a plain changelog), and add a line telling the model exactly what the handoff note should contain, like open questions, decisions made, and the very next action.
If you’re the type who runs the same AI project across a dozen sessions and keeps re-explaining yourself at the top of each one, this is worth stealing. Head over to r/PromptEngineering to read the full thread and see how greentide008 answers questions on the Cistern setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What’s the Cistern, and why should I spend my leftover context at the end of a session?
The Cistern is a system where you use your final drops of context capacity to pre-derive things that would be expensive to rebuild fresh, like summaries, patterns, or key decisions. Instead of signing off when you’re tired, you invest that remainder so your next session starts with a running start instead of a cold engine.
Q: What are Story Pole, Capstan, Tickets, and Notes, and why does the Work Hierarchy need all four?
They’re different layers for tracking work across long timeframes. Story Pole holds the big narrative arc of your project; Capstan is the central hub anchoring everything; Tickets are your discrete, actionable chunks; Notes provide the supporting context and decisions. Together, they keep you from losing orientation across days or weeks of work.
Q: What does *X & SWX do, and when should I run it?
It’s a broad sweep system that consolidates context from multiple sources: your written software, tools you’ve built, web searches, knowledge packs, patterns, and determinism registries. Run it at the start of a session or when you’re switching between threads to rebuild your mental foundation fast.
Q: Does this prompt approach work on standard AI tools, or is it tied to Loop MMT?
The prompt is optimized for Loop MMT’s architecture, but the underlying principles, review past work, plan future work, protect your context with the Cistern, use structured tracking, are broadly portable. You’d adapt the terminology to your tools, but the core logic works with plain notes, Obsidian, linear tracking, or whatever you have.
A boilerplate prompt that I use to keep work sessions going in the right direction
by u/greentide008 in PromptEngineering