# The History of Awesome ChatGPT Prompts

## The Beginning: November 2022

When ChatGPT first launched in November 2022, the world of AI changed overnight. What was once the domain of researchers and developers suddenly became accessible to everyone. Among those captivated by this new technology was Fatih Kadir Akın, a developer who saw something remarkable in ChatGPT's capabilities.

> "When ChatGPT first launched, I was immediately captivated by its capabilities. I experimented with the tool in a variety of ways and was consistently amazed by the results."

Those early days were filled with experimentation and discovery. Users around the world were finding creative ways to interact with ChatGPT, sharing their findings, and learning from each other. It was in this atmosphere of excitement and exploration that the idea for "Awesome ChatGPT Prompts" was born.

## The Repository That Started It All

In December 2022, just weeks after ChatGPT's launch, the [Awesome ChatGPT Prompts](https://github.com/f/prompts.chat) repository was created on GitHub. The concept was simple but powerful: a curated collection of effective prompts that anyone could use and contribute to.

The repository quickly gained traction, becoming a go-to resource for ChatGPT users worldwide. What started as a personal collection of useful prompts evolved into a community-driven project with contributions from developers, writers, educators, and enthusiasts from every corner of the globe.

### Achievements

**Press & Media**
- Featured in [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/05/17/the-best-prompts-for-chatgpt-a-complete-guide/) as one of the best ChatGPT prompt resources

**Academic Recognition**
- Referenced by [Harvard University](https://www.huit.harvard.edu/news/ai-prompts) in their AI guidance
- Referenced by [Columbia University](https://etc.cuit.columbia.edu/news/columbia-prompt-library-effective-academic-ai-use) Prompt Library
- Used by [Olympic College](https://libguides.olympic.edu/UsingAI/Prompts) in their AI resources
- Cited in [academic papers on arXiv](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.04484)
- [40+ academic citations](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AZ0Dg8YAAAAJ&hl=en) on Google Scholar

**Community & GitHub**
- [142,000+ GitHub stars](https://github.com/f/prompts.chat) — one of the most starred AI repositories
- Selected as a [GitHub Staff Pick](https://spotlights-feed.github.com/spotlights/prompts-chat/)
- Most liked dataset published on [Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co/datasets/fka/prompts.chat)
- Used by thousands of developers worldwide

## The First Book: "The Art of ChatGPT Prompting"

The success of the repository led to the creation of "The Art of ChatGPT Prompting: A Guide to Crafting Clear and Effective Prompts" — a comprehensive guide published on Gumroad in early 2023.

The book captured the early wisdom of prompt engineering, covering:

- Understanding how ChatGPT works
- Principles of clear communication with AI
- The famous "Act As" technique
- Crafting effective prompts step by step
- Common mistakes and how to avoid them
- Troubleshooting tips

**The book became a phenomenon**, achieving over **100,000 downloads** on Gumroad. It was shared across social media, referenced in academic papers, and translated by community members into multiple languages. High-profile endorsements came from unexpected places — even [Greg Brockman](https://x.com/gdb/status/1602072566671110144), co-founder and president of OpenAI, acknowledged the project.

## Early Insights That Shaped the Field

During those formative months, several key insights emerged that would become foundational to prompt engineering:

### 1. Specificity Matters

> "I learned the importance of using specific and relevant language to ensure that ChatGPT understands my prompts and is able to generate appropriate responses."

Early experimenters discovered that vague prompts led to vague responses. The more specific and detailed the prompt, the more useful the output.

### 2. Purpose and Focus

> "I discovered the value of defining a clear purpose and focus for the conversation, rather than using open-ended or overly broad prompts."

This insight became the foundation for structured prompting techniques that would develop over the following years.

### 3. The "Act As" Revolution

One of the most influential techniques to emerge from the community was the "Act As" pattern. By instructing ChatGPT to assume a specific role or persona, users could dramatically improve the quality and relevance of responses.

```
I want you to act as a javascript console. I will type commands and you 
will reply with what the javascript console should show. I want you to 
only reply with the terminal output inside one unique code block, and 
nothing else.
```

This simple technique opened up countless possibilities and remains one of the most widely used prompting strategies today.

## The Evolution of prompts.chat

### 2022: The Beginning

The project started as a simple GitHub repository with a README file rendered as HTML on GitHub Pages. It was bare-bones but functional — a testament to the principle that great ideas don't need elaborate implementations.

**Tech Stack**: HTML, CSS, GitHub Pages

### 2024: UI Renewal

As the community grew, so did the need for a better user experience. The site received a significant UI update, built with the help of AI coding assistants like Cursor and Claude Sonnet 3.5.

### 2025: The Current Platform

Today, prompts.chat has evolved into a full-featured platform built with:

- **Next.js** for the web framework
- **Vercel** for hosting
- **AI-assisted development** using Windsurf and Claude

The platform now features user accounts, collections, search, categories, tags, and a thriving community of prompt engineers.

### Native Apps

The project expanded beyond the web with a native iOS app built with SwiftUI, bringing the prompt library to mobile users.

## Community Impact

The Awesome ChatGPT Prompts project has had a profound impact on how people interact with AI:

### Academic Recognition

Universities around the world have referenced the project in their AI guidance materials, including:

- Harvard University
- Columbia University
- Olympic College
- Numerous academic papers on arXiv

### Developer Adoption

The project has been integrated into countless developer workflows. The Hugging Face dataset is used by researchers and developers for training and fine-tuning language models.

### Global Community

With contributions from hundreds of community members across dozens of countries, the project represents a truly global effort to make AI more accessible and useful for everyone.

## The Philosophy: Open and Free

From the beginning, the project has been committed to openness. Licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal (Public Domain Dedication), all prompts and content are free to use, modify, and share without restriction.

This philosophy has enabled:

- Translations into multiple languages
- Integration into other tools and platforms
- Academic use and research
- Commercial applications

The goal has always been to democratize access to effective AI communication techniques — to ensure that everyone, regardless of technical background, can benefit from these tools.

## Three Years Later

Three years after ChatGPT's launch, the field of prompt engineering has matured significantly. What began as informal experimentation has evolved into a recognized discipline with established patterns, best practices, and an active research community.

The Awesome ChatGPT Prompts project has grown alongside this field, evolving from a simple list of prompts to a comprehensive platform for discovering, sharing, and learning about AI prompts.

This book represents the next evolution — a distillation of three years of community wisdom, updated for the AI landscape of today and tomorrow.

## Looking Forward

The journey from that first repository to this comprehensive guide reflects the rapid evolution of AI and our understanding of how to work with it effectively. As AI capabilities continue to advance, so too will the techniques for communicating with these systems.

The principles discovered in those early days — clarity, specificity, purpose, and the power of role-playing — remain as relevant as ever. But new techniques continue to emerge: chain-of-thought prompting, few-shot learning, multimodal interactions, and more.

The story of Awesome ChatGPT Prompts is ultimately a story about community — about thousands of people around the world sharing their discoveries, helping each other learn, and collectively advancing our understanding of how to work with AI.

That spirit of open collaboration and shared learning is what this book hopes to continue.

---

*The Awesome ChatGPT Prompts project is maintained by [@f](https://github.com/f) and an amazing community of contributors. Visit [prompts.chat](https://prompts.chat) to explore the platform, and join us on [GitHub](https://github.com/f/prompts.chat) to contribute.*
