Using Variables

Variables make prompts dynamic. Instead of a static prompt, you get a reusable template.

How variables work

A prompt might contain:

Translate the following text to {{language}}:

{{content}}

When you run the prompt, you supply values for each variable:

pod translate --language spanish --content "Hello, how are you?"

The CLI replaces {{language}} with spanish and {{content}} with your text before sending it to the AI model.

Default values

Some variables have defaults. In the prompt, they look like:

{{language:english}}

If you don't pass --language, it defaults to english. If you do pass it, your value overrides the default.

# Uses default language (english)
pod translate --content "Hello world"

# Overrides to spanish
pod translate --language spanish --content "Hello world"

Multiple variables

Pass as many variables as the prompt requires:

pod generate-email --tone formal --topic "project update" --recipient "team"

Variables in code

When using the SDK, pass variables as an object:

import { pod } from "promptodex";

const prompt = await pod("translate", {
  language: "spanish",
  content: "Hello, how are you?",
});

Next Steps

• Piping Input — Use stdin for longer content
• Writing Prompts → Variables — Full variable reference