# Write Your First Prompt Template


A prompt template is a Markdown file that becomes a slash command. You type `/name` in a session, and kli sends the file's text to the model as your message. In this tutorial you'll write one template and run it. No code, just a file.

We'll build a `/review` command that asks kli to review the changes you've staged in git.

## Create the prompts directory

kli reads prompt templates from a `prompts/` folder inside your project's `.kli/` directory. Move into the root of any git project and create it:

```sh
mkdir -p .kli/prompts
```

## Write the template

Create the file `.kli/prompts/review.md`:

```sh
$EDITOR .kli/prompts/review.md
```

Put this in it:

```markdown
---
description: Review my staged changes
argument-hint: [focus]
---

Run `git diff --staged` and review the changes.

Look for bugs, missing error handling, and anything that would
break existing behavior. If I gave a focus area, pay attention
to it: $ARGUMENTS

Report what you find. Don't change any files yet.
```

The filename sets the command name: `review.md` becomes `/review`. Everything below the closing `---` is the body, the text kli sends to the model when you run the command.

Two things in the frontmatter shape how the command shows up:

- `description` is the one-line summary kli displays next to the command.
- `argument-hint` is the placeholder kli shows for whatever you type after `/review`.

`$ARGUMENTS` is a placeholder in the body. kli replaces it with whatever you type after the command name. Run `/review` with nothing and it expands to an empty string; run `/review error handling` and it expands to `error handling`.

Save the file.

## Run it

Start kli from the project root:

```sh
kli
```

kli finds your template at startup and registers `/review`. Type a single `/` in the prompt, and the completion list appears with `review` among the commands, your description beside it and `[focus]` as the hint.

Stage a change first so there's something to review:

```sh
git add -A
```

Back in the session, run the command:

```text
/review
```

kli expands the template body and sends it as your message. The model runs `git diff --staged`, reads the changes, and reports what it found. You wrote no code, and the diff review is now one command away.

Try it with a focus:

```text
/review concurrency
```

This time `$ARGUMENTS` expands to `concurrency`, and the model weights its review toward that.

## What you built

You have a working slash command in `.kli/prompts/review.md`. It lives in the project, so anyone who clones the repo and runs kli gets the same `/review`. Edit the file and start a fresh session to change what the command does.

From here, put the same file under `~/.config/kli/prompts/` to get the command in every project. For the full placeholder syntax, including arguments by position, see [Prompt Template Arguments](/kli/extend/prompt-templates/using-arguments).