How to Save Prompts Across ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor
Monday you're in ChatGPT refining a prompt for customer emails. Tuesday you're in Cursor having Claude debug your code. Wednesday you're in Claude's web interface exploring a product idea.
Each tool keeps its own history. None of them talk to each other. That perfect prompt from last week? It's somewhere. Maybe ChatGPT. Maybe Claude. Maybe that Cursor session you can't find.
This isn't sustainable.
The Cross-Tool Prompt Problem
Modern knowledge workers use 3-5 AI tools regularly:
- •ChatGPT for general questions and writing
- •Claude for analysis and longer conversations
- •Cursor for code assistance
- •GitHub Copilot for inline completions
- •Perplexity for research
- •Custom tools built on APIs
Each has its own history. Each requires its own backup strategy. None share context with the others.
The result: your AI knowledge is fragmented across a dozen interfaces. The prompt that worked brilliantly in ChatGPT? You'll never find it when you need it in Claude.
Manual Approaches (They Work, Barely)
Option 1: Copy to Notes
After a good prompt, manually copy it to Notion, Obsidian, or a text file.
Reality check: You'll do this twice, then forget. At 11 PM when you're iterating on something important, you're not stopping to document.
Option 2: Export Each Tool
ChatGPT has data export. Claude has data export. Export everything periodically.
Reality check: You'll have 47 JSON files with no way to search across them. The format is different for each tool. Finding anything is archaeology.
Option 3: Browser Extensions
Various extensions claim to backup conversations.
Reality check: Security risk. Each extension has full access to your AI sessions. And they only work for web interfaces — they don't capture Cursor, Copilot, or API usage.
Option 4: API-Only Usage
Route all LLM calls through your own logging layer.
Reality check: Only works for custom apps. Doesn't help with ChatGPT, Claude web, or Cursor.
None of these scale. None of these cross tool boundaries cleanly.
What You Actually Need
Unified History
All prompts, all tools, one place. Search "that email template I made" and find it whether it was ChatGPT, Claude, or Cursor.
No more "which tool was I using last Thursday?"
Automatic Capture
No manual copying. No remembering to export. It just happens. You focus on the work; the system captures the artifacts.
Semantic Search
Not just keyword matching. Search by concept, by intent, by similarity. "Prompts like this one" becomes possible.
Context Preservation
The prompt alone isn't enough. What conversation led to it? What was the system prompt? What context was included? The full picture, not just the message.
Building a Prompt Library
While waiting for perfect tools, you can build something functional:
Step 1: Create a Standard Format
# Prompt: Customer Feedback Summary
**Source**: Claude (web)
**Date**: 2025-01-15
**Category**: Customer Research
## System Context
You are a product researcher analyzing customer feedback...
## Prompt Template
Given this feedback: {feedback}
Summarize into:
1. Main complaint
2. Underlying need
3. Suggested improvement
## Notes
- Works better with specific examples
- Claude handles long feedback better than GPT
- Version 3 after adding "underlying need" category
Step 2: Organize by Category
prompts/
├── customer-research/
│ ├── feedback-summary.md
│ └── survey-analysis.md
├── coding/
│ ├── code-review.md
│ └── bug-diagnosis.md
├── writing/
│ ├── email-templates.md
│ └── documentation.md
└── analysis/
├── data-interpretation.md
└── decision-support.md
Step 3: Make It Searchable
Put it in a searchable tool — Notion, Obsidian with search, or even a git repo with grep.
Step 4: Actually Use It
Before starting a new conversation, check your library. Existing prompts are starting points, not sacred texts.
The Tool-Specific Reality
Each AI tool has different capture options:
ChatGPT
- •Export: Settings → Data Controls → Export Data
- •Format: JSON (nested, messy)
- •Limitation: Takes up to 24 hours
- •Full guide →
Claude
- •Export: Settings → Export Conversations
- •Format: JSON
- •Limitation: Doesn't include system prompts
- •Full guide →
Cursor
- •Export: No built-in export
- •Workaround: Check log files
- •Limitation: Logs rotate quickly
- •Full guide →
GitHub Copilot
- •Export: None
- •Reality: Your prompts are mostly inline comments; code is your record
- •Full guide →
API Usage
- •Best option: Log everything at the API layer
- •Format: Whatever you design
- •Limitation: Requires implementation
What We're Building
The manual approach works for some people. But it requires discipline, and discipline fails.
Tribecode takes a different approach: automatic capture across tools. Use ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor — your prompts are saved automatically. Search across all of them. See what works. Build on past successes.
No manual exports. No context switching to copy prompts. No "where was that again?"
One place for your AI knowledge.
Starting Today
Even without specialized tools, you can improve:
- •Pick your most-used tool and set up proper backup (see guides above)
- •Create a simple prompt library — even 10 saved prompts is better than zero
- •Review weekly — what prompts did you repeat? Those deserve documentation
- •Share with your team — a shared prompt library multiplies value
The goal isn't perfect organization. It's not losing the good stuff.
FAQ
Should I save every prompt?
Save prompts you might reuse or learn from. Daily chit-chat with ChatGPT doesn't need archiving. But anything you iterated on, refined, or found valuable — save it.
What's the best format for saved prompts?
Markdown is portable and searchable. Include the full context: system prompt, user prompt, and any notes about what worked.
How do I handle different prompt formats for different tools?
Normalize when saving. Extract the core prompt and note which tool it was designed for. Prompts often need adjustment between tools anyway.
Can I use the same prompt in ChatGPT and Claude?
Often, yes. But results vary. Keep notes about which tool handles which prompts better.
Your prompts are scattered. Your insights are fragmented. It doesn't have to be this way.
Tribecode unifies your AI history. One place for everything. Try it free →
— Chief Tribe Officer, Tribecode.ai