Library blocks and embedded blocks

Choose between a block you can reuse in any prompt and a block that belongs to one prompt only, and edit either from the Build screen.

A dynamic prompt can use two kinds of block:

• Library blocks live on the Blocks screen. You can use one in any number of prompts, and changing it changes every prompt that uses it.
• Embedded blocks belong to one prompt. They’re for text that only that prompt needs. They aren’t on the Blocks screen, in search or in the Build screen’s block list, and changing one changes only its prompt.

On the Build screen, an embedded block has an Embedded badge. A library block has no Embedded badge.

How they compare

Add an embedded block

1. Open the prompt on the Build screen (Build a prompt).

2. Click Embedded Block, above the canvas. A new block with a New badge appears at the end of the prompt.

   

3. Type a name for the block.

4. Choose its type in the box next to the name.

5. Write the block’s text. The toolbar and the {{ variable picker work as they do on the Blocks screen.

6. Tick Include Name or Include Type if you want a header above it (block headers).

7. Leave Save to Block Library unticked.

8. Save the prompt (Save as Dynamic, Update Prompt or Apply).

The block becomes a real embedded block when you save the prompt. The Save buttons stay grayed out until every new block has a name, a type and some text.

To get rid of a new block before you save, click its X. Undo may not bring back an unsaved block you removed, so copy its text first if you might want it.

Add a new library block from Build

Follow the steps in Add an embedded block, but tick Save to Block Library at step 7. A Tags box appears for the block’s tags (when the Tags feature is on).

When you save the prompt, the block is added to the Blocks screen like any other library block, and you can use it in other prompts. On the Free plan it counts toward your 25 blocks. If there isn’t room, the Free plan limit window opens and nothing is saved (Plans and limits).

Edit a block from Build

Click the pencil (Edit block) on a block’s card. The Edit block window opens with its Name, Type and text, and what happens next depends on the kind of block.

An embedded block

The window says This block is embedded in this prompt only. Your changes are saved when you save the prompt.

1. Make your changes.
2. Click Done.
3. Save the prompt.

If you leave Build without saving the prompt, the changes are lost. When you save, the changes go into the prompt’s version history.

A library block

The window says This block is saved in your Block Library., with a warning: Saving changes this block everywhere it’s used, followed by the saved prompts that use it (the first five, then “and N more”).

1. Make your changes. When the Tags feature is on, you can change its Tags here too.
2. Click Save block.

The block is saved straight away, for every prompt that uses it, even if you then leave Build without saving this prompt. To change it for this prompt only, click Cancel and use Convert to embedded block instead.

Change a library block for this prompt only

When you want different wording in this prompt, but don’t want to change the block in your other prompts:

1. On the block’s card, click the Convert to embedded block button (between the pencil and the X).

   

2. The card is replaced, in the same place, by a new embedded block with the same name, type, text, tags and header choices.

3. Change the text.

4. Save the prompt.

The library block isn’t changed, and your other prompts keep using it.

Turn an embedded block into a library block

You can make one of this prompt’s embedded blocks into a library block from the Code view:

1. On the Build screen, click Code above the canvas, then Edit.
2. Find the block (its "saveToBlocksLibrary" is false) and change it to true.
3. Save the prompt.

The block then shows on the Blocks screen, and counts toward the Free plan’s 25 blocks. See Edit a prompt as code.

You can’t turn a library block into an embedded block this way. Use Convert to embedded block, which makes an embedded copy.

Copying a prompt

When you duplicate a prompt (right-click it on the Prompts screen and choose Copy):

• The copy uses the same library blocks as the original. Changing one of them changes both prompts.
• The copy gets its own copies of the embedded blocks. Changing an embedded block in one prompt doesn’t change the other.

See Folders, moving and copying.