Steal My Prompt Vol. 27: The Session Saver

Every regular AI user eventually hits the context window. You are deep into a complex task and the chat slows down, responses get fuzzy, or you get a message telling you the conversation is too long to continue.

For most people, this is where the work dies. You start a new chat, re-explain everything from scratch, and spend twenty minutes getting the AI back up to speed. Half the context you built never makes it over.

I have hit this wall building this newsletter — mid-article, mid-build, mid-deployment. What I learned is that the fix is simple. Before you lose context, capture your role, your status, and your next step in one structured note. Paste it into a new chat and keep going.

I now write the recovery note before I need it. That is the real shift. You do not wait until the window closes. You write the handoff while things are still working.

How to use it:

1. When your session is running well but getting long, pause and fill in the template below.
2. Save it somewhere accessible — your notes app, a Google Doc, the clipboard.
3. When the context window closes or the session degrades, open a new chat.
4. Paste the completed template as your first message.
5. Recommended: do this proactively every 30 to 45 minutes on long sessions. Do not wait until the window forces you.

You are picking up a work session that hit a context window limit in a previous chat. Here is everything you need to continue without losing ground.

MY ROLE AND GOAL:

[Describe who you are and what you are trying to accomplish — e.g., "I am a project manager drafting a business case for a new internal tool" or "I am a solo founder writing a blog post series about my experience building a product"]

WHAT WE WERE WORKING ON:

[Name the specific task — e.g., "writing the third section of a blog post," "building a research brief," "drafting a proposal," "planning a presentation"]

WHAT HAS BEEN COMPLETED:

[List what was finished in the previous session — be specific. Copy outputs directly if you have them.]

WHERE WE STOPPED:

[Describe the exact point where the session ended — e.g., "We had just finished the outline and were about to draft Section 2" or "We were halfway through the research phase"]

WHAT COMES NEXT:

[The single next action — e.g., "Draft Section 2 using the outline we locked" or "Continue the research for the third argument"]

KEY DECISIONS ALREADY MADE:

[List any important choices that should not be revisited — e.g., tone, format, scope, constraints, specific wording that was approved]

IMPORTANT CONTEXT TO CARRY FORWARD:

[Anything else the new session needs — background on the project, audience, voice guidelines, constraints, or relevant outputs from the previous session]

Acknowledge that you have read this and confirm what we are picking up from. Then continue.

Transparency & Notes: This prompt works in Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. The more specific your "Where We Stopped" and "Key Decisions Already Made" sections are, the faster the new session gets back up to speed. If you have outputs from the previous session — an outline, a draft section, a research note — paste them directly into the "What Has Been Completed" field. The AI does not need a summary. It needs the actual work.