# Your first prompt

*Install PromptMason, see how your 14 days of Pro and the license key work, make your first block, build a prompt from it and copy it.*

Online version: https://promptmason.ai/docs/getting-started

This walkthrough takes you from installing PromptMason to your first prompt, built from a reusable block. Each step links to a guide with more detail.

A **block** is a reusable piece of prompt text, like "Act as a careful editor" or "Answer in three bullet points". A **prompt** is what you paste into an AI tool. You build prompts from blocks, so a block you improve once improves every prompt that uses it.

## 1. Install

On the [Download](https://promptmason.ai/download) page, click **Download** and enter your email. The next page gives you the installer. You don't need a key.

Open the installer. If Windows shows a blue **Windows protected your PC** screen, click **More info**, check the publisher it names, then click **Run anyway**. The [installation guide](https://promptmason.ai/docs/installation#install) gives the publisher's name to look for.

## 2. Choose how to start

The first time you open PromptMason it asks **How would you like to start?**

![The "How would you like to start?" window with two choices, Start simple and Show me everything.](https://promptmason.ai/images/docs/getting-started-first-run-chooser.webp)

- **Start simple** shows the essentials: blocks, building prompts, your prompt library and Chat. Every other optional feature is off, including the Home screen, so PromptMason opens on the **Prompts** screen.
- **Show me everything** turns every feature on, and PromptMason opens on **Home**.

Closing the question without choosing counts as **Start simple**. You can turn features on or off any time in **Settings → Features**. See [Show or hide features](https://promptmason.ai/docs/features).

## 3. Your 14 days of Pro

Your 14 days of Pro start by themselves. You don't need a key. After 14 days, PromptMason moves to the Free plan.

Right after you choose, PromptMason opens **Settings → Plan** once, at **License key**, with the line "Have a key? Paste it here, then select Activate." Only enter a key if you bought Pro or support gave you one. Otherwise, close Settings and carry on.

![The License key row on the Plan pane with the line Have a key? Paste it here, then select Activate, a key box and an Activate button.](https://promptmason.ai/images/docs/license-paste-your-key-box.webp)

See [Your trial and license key](https://promptmason.ai/docs/license).

## 4. Add the Starter pack, or not

While your library is empty, a card appears in the bottom-right corner: **Start with ready-made blocks?**

- Click **Add the starter pack** to add ready-made blocks, prompts and sample variables for everyday work. The card says how many. You can change or delete any of them.
- Click **Not now** to start from nothing.

Once you click either button, the card doesn't come back. You can add the Starter pack, or the packs for finance, legal, marketing, sales, HR and customer support, later in **Settings → Backup & data**, under **Block packs**. See [Add a block pack](https://promptmason.ai/docs/block-packs).

## 5. Make a block

1. Click **Blocks** in the sidebar.
2. Click **New block**.
3. Type a name in the **New block name…** box.
4. Write the block's text in the box under it.
5. Under **Properties**, at the bottom of the pane, pick a **Type**, such as Role or Task.
6. Click **Save**: the disk icon at the top right of the pane. Ctrl+S also saves.

    ![A new block open for editing, with a name, the text box and toolbar, and Type, Location and Tags under Properties.](https://promptmason.ai/images/docs/blocks-new-block-pane.webp)

The block opens in the pane, ready to use. **Save** stays grayed out until the block has a name and some text. For more about blocks, see [Create and edit blocks](https://promptmason.ai/docs/blocks).

## 6. Build a prompt

1. Click **Build** in the sidebar. Your blocks are listed on the left, under **Blocks**.
2. Double-click a block to add it to the end of the prompt, or drag it into the middle of the screen.
3. Add more blocks the same way. To change the order, drag a block by the dotted grip at its left edge, or click the small up and down arrows next to it.
4. Type a name in the **Name this prompt…** box at the top.
5. Click **Save as Dynamic** or **Save as Static**:
   - **Save as Dynamic** keeps the prompt linked to its blocks. When you edit a block, every dynamic prompt that uses it changes too.
   - **Save as Static** saves the prompt's text as it reads now. Later changes to the blocks don't change it.

    ![The Build screen: the block list on the left, three blocks on the canvas in the middle, and the Preview and Properties panes on the right.](https://promptmason.ai/images/docs/build-prompt-screen.webp)

PromptMason saves the prompt and moves to the **Prompts** screen.

To change a dynamic prompt later, click it on the **Prompts** screen and click **Open in Build** (the pencil). The save button then reads **Update Prompt**. **Apply** saves and keeps you on Build. See [Build a prompt](https://promptmason.ai/docs/build-prompt) and [Static prompts, dynamic prompts and documents](https://promptmason.ai/docs/static-and-dynamic).

## 7. Copy it

1. Click **Prompts** in the sidebar and click your prompt.
2. Click **Copy to Clipboard**. The button reads **Copied** for a moment.
3. Paste the prompt into your AI tool.

If the prompt uses a [variable](https://promptmason.ai/docs/variables) that asks for its value each time, **Fill in your values** opens first. Type a value in each box and click **Copy**.

For more ways to copy, including copying only some of a prompt's blocks, see [Copy and use a prompt](https://promptmason.ai/docs/use-prompts).

## Next steps

- [A tour of PromptMason](https://promptmason.ai/docs/app-tour): what each screen is for.
- [Variables](https://promptmason.ai/docs/variables): fill in names, dates and other details each time you copy.
- [Free, private AI on your PC](https://promptmason.ai/docs/local-model): download PromptMason's own AI model, free on every plan, to improve your text with AI assist or run prompts in Chat, with nothing sent off your PC.
- [PromptMason's built-in MCP server](https://promptmason.ai/docs/mcp-server): let Claude Desktop, Cursor or Claude Code search and use your blocks and prompts directly.
- [Back up your library](https://promptmason.ai/docs/backups).
- [Privacy in PromptMason](https://promptmason.ai/docs/privacy-overview): your library is kept on your PC, and this page lists when anything leaves it.

## Want a hand?

Paste this prompt into Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant, together with this guide, to be walked through it step by step:

> I just installed PromptMason. Walk me through my 14 days of Pro, making my first block, building a prompt from it and copying it into ChatGPT.