22 Claude Prompts for Squarespace Designers (That Actually Work)

I tested these on real client projects. Here's what made the cut.

You know that thing where you ask Claude to write some CSS, and what comes back is... fine? Like, it technically works, but you spend 15 minutes stripping out the comments you didn't ask for, fixing selectors that don't match Squarespace's class structure, and rewriting the mobile breakpoints because they're wrong.

So next time you write a longer prompt. More detail. More context. And the result is a bit better. But you're still editing.

I had this problem for months. And the fix wasn't writing longer prompts. It was learning a handful of short, specific phrases that change how Claude approaches your request before it writes anything.

Not a prompting framework. Not some 2,000-word system prompt you paste in every time. Just direct instructions that tell Claude how to think, not just what to produce.

I've been using Claude every day for over a year now. Building Squarespace sites, debugging Custom CSS, scoping projects, writing client handover docs. And the prompts I rely on today look nothing like the ones I started with. Most of them are short. Some are just one sentence. But they make a genuine difference to what comes back.

I've pulled 22 of them together into a guide. Every single example is written for Squarespace designers because that's what I do and that's what I know. Real prompts from real projects, grouped by when you'd actually use them.

Here's a taste.

The four you should use every time

These go in every chat. Think of them as your defaults.

“Ask me questions before you start."

Honestly, this one prompt changed more about my workflow than anything else on the list. Without it, Claude fills in the gaps with assumptions. It gives you something that looks right but misses what you actually needed. Tell it to ask questions first and it stops, thinks about what it doesn't know, and checks with you. The CSS that comes after that conversation is so much better.

“Don't [specific thing]."

Claude has habits. It over-comments code. It adds wrapper divs you didn't ask for. It defaults to American spelling. A single "don't" instruction wipes out an entire category of edits you'd normally make by hand. Here's a useful way to think about it: if you keep making the same edit to Claude's output, that's a constraint you haven't set yet.

“Repeat back to me what I've asked you to do."

This takes 10 seconds and saves entire rounds of revision. You're asking Claude to restate the brief in its own words before it starts working. If it's misunderstood something, you catch it now. Not after 80 lines of CSS that solve the wrong problem.

“Give me 3 options."

When you ask for one answer, you get Claude's best guess. Ask for three and you get range. I almost always find that one of the options is better than what I'd have got from a single response. And sometimes the best result is a mix of two.

Those four on their own will change your experience with AI-assisted web design. But they're just the starting point.

Try them for yourself

Reading about prompts is one thing. Actually feeling the difference is another. I built an interactive version of this guide where you spot what's wrong with weak prompts, watch a bad prompt improve step by step, and build your own ready-to-use prompt at the end. Takes about five minutes.

What's in the rest of the guide

The other 18 prompts are grouped by situation. You don't need to memorise them all. Just dip into whichever section matches what you're doing right now.

When you're building. How to set Claude's role so it actually writes Squarespace-compatible CSS. Showing it an example of your preferred code style so it matches your standards. Getting it to compare two approaches (summary block vs custom HTML, for instance). Refactoring messy CSS on an inherited site without breaking anything. Converting a CodePen snippet to work inside Squarespace 7.1. And getting code explanations pitched at your actual experience level, not a computer science lecture.

When you're checking work. Making Claude document every single change and explain why it made it. Switching it into critique mode so it looks for problems rather than trying to be helpful. Asking "what am I missing?" before a site launch. Getting it to predict what would break if you removed a specific CSS block. And generating a pre-launch checklist that's tailored to the specific site you just built, not a generic template from a blog post.

When you're thinking. Using Claude to suggest how to structure a new client site before you open Squarespace. Getting it to scope a project and flag the things the client hasn't thought about. Writing handover guides and client content pitched at the right audience.

When you're levelling up. Breaking big tasks into sub-agents so Claude doesn't lose focus halfway through a full-page CSS build. Turning any workflow you like into a reusable Skill that loads automatically next time. And the simplest prompt most people don't know they can use (it's literally one word).

Every prompt has a full explanation of why it works, a Squarespace-specific example, and a note on when it's most useful.

The bit most people miss: stacking

Each of these prompts works on its own. But the real shift happens when you start combining them.

One opening line: "Ask me questions first. Don't use !important or inline styles. Repeat back the brief before writing. Give me 3 options." That's four techniques in 20 seconds of typing. And it transforms the response.

Then you layer in the situational ones depending on what you're doing. About to launch? Stack the critique, the gap check, the risk assessment, and the tailored checklist. Starting a new client project? Combine the site structure and scoping prompts. Cleaning up inherited CSS? Use step-by-step reasoning with the refactor prompt and the "what would break" check.

And when a combination works really well, you turn it into a Skill. Then you never have to type it again.

All 22 prompts in one PDF. Keep it open while you work.