How Placeholders Work in Prompts (Optional Reading)
If you’ve opened the prompt in an Agent’s Advanced Configuration panel, you may have seen snippets like {{BrandVoice}} or {{Input_Source}}. These are called placeholders, and they’re part of the system that makes Studio Agents dynamic, reusable, and scalable.
You don’t need to use them yourself — but if you’re curious, this page explains what they do and why they matter.
What Is a Placeholder?
A placeholder is a token inside a prompt that automatically gets filled in when the Agent runs.
Think of them as invisible bridges between the fields you fill out (like “Tone” or “Topic”) and the instructions the model sees behind the scenes.
For example:
{{BrandVoice}}pulls in your brand’s voice description{{Input_Source}}inserts the topic or source material for the content{{CTAGoal}}adds the selected call-to-action focus (e.g. Subscribe, Donate)
When the Agent runs, Studio builds the full prompt by replacing each placeholder with the appropriate value. The result is a clean, context-rich instruction passed to the AI — without you having to write any of it manually.
Why Placeholders Exist
They let us:
- Reuse the same prompt across thousands of content types
- Keep Agents flexible without needing separate templates for every use case
- Ensure your voice, input, tone, and structure are always aligned
- Connect the UI (what you fill out) to the model (what it sees)
Instead of writing a unique prompt for every article, we use a single smart prompt that adapts to your input.
What You Might See (But Don’t Need to Edit)
Here are a few of the most common placeholders found inside Studio Agents:
| Placeholder | What it Inserts |
|---|---|
{{BrandVoice}} | Your defined voice style and tone |
{{Input_Source}} | The article topic, text, or source material |
{{CTAGoal}} | The selected call-to-action goal |
{{DesiredTone}} | A tone keyword selected from a dropdown |
{{SEOKeyword}} | The focus keyword for search optimization |
{{Output_Format}} | HTML, XML, JSON, or other export formatting rule |
These values are either selected by you during Agent setup, or pulled from Site or Brand defaults.
Do I Ever Need to Edit These?
In nearly all cases: No.
The placeholders are already connected to your UI selections and don’t need to be touched.
However, if you’re:
- Creating a fully custom Agent from scratch
- Rebuilding or cloning a prompt across multiple Sites
- Working with a developer or advanced content strategist
...then you might open the prompt to review how the placeholders behave. You still don’t need to write them yourself — just make sure they’re aligned with your Agent’s visible input fields.
Summary
Placeholders are part of what makes Ongage Studio scalable and reliable.
- They insert your inputs into the prompt dynamically
- They allow you to configure once, then run at scale
- You don’t need to write or change them manually
- But it’s helpful to know what they do — especially if you’re reviewing prompts or debugging
If it looks like code, don’t worry. It’s just structure doing its job quietly in the background.