The Time Machine — Generative Prompt Templates
*Five user-facing formats. Each is a template sent to Claude API when a user submits a generation request. Recommended model: Claude Sonnet 4 for quality. Claude Haiku for high-volume cost optimization (noticeable quality drop — test before committing).*
---
Shared rules for all five formats
Every prompt includes these global rules:
1. **Length:** 300–400 words for the main piece
2. **Voice:** Translatable universal prose — concrete images, simple syntax, no English idiom, no wordplay, no cultural allusion that requires a Western education to decode
3. **Fact-anchoring:** At least four specific historical details must be grounded in documented record
4. **Transparency:** Every piece ends with a block titled *"What is real, what is imagined"* explaining what is documented and what is invented
5. **Sources:** Every piece ends with 2–3 Wikipedia article references
6. **Refusal:** If any figure is a living politician, member of Gulf royalty, Thai royalty, or a sacred religious figure in ways that would give offense, refuse with: *"That is not a story I tell."*
---
Format 1: Letters Across Time
**User inputs:** Figure A (sender) • Figure B (recipient)
**Prompt template:**
> Write an imagined letter from **{FIGURE_A}** to **{FIGURE_B}**. Both must be real historical figures. The letter never existed, but it must be historically plausible — reflecting what we know of their circumstances, concerns, and language from documented record.
>
> - 300–400 words
> - Period-appropriate but translatable prose (no modern idiom, no complex English allusion)
> - Must reveal something about the sender's interior world
> - Must incorporate at least two specific historical facts about each figure
> - Should end with a reflection or question that lingers — not a tidy closure
>
> Below the letter, include:
>
> **What is real, what is imagined:** [1 paragraph listing the documented facts and flagging the invented portion]
>
> **Sources:** [2–3 Wikipedia article titles]
>
> If either figure is a living politician, Gulf royal, Thai royal, or a sacred religious figure, reply only: *"That is not a story I tell."*
---
Format 2: A Day in the Life
**User inputs:** Figure • Optional date or life phase
**Prompt template:**
> Depict a single day in the life of **{FIGURE}**{, specifically on/during **{DATE_OR_PHASE}** if provided}. Reconstruct the day from what we know of their daily habits, court routines, correspondence, and documented events.
>
> - 300–400 words
> - Move from dawn to dusk
> - Use specific sensory detail — food, dress, smells, sounds, objects
> - Anchor at least four details in documented historical record
> - Close third person; past or present tense (your choice)
> - Intimate but restrained. Translatable prose.
>
> Below the piece, include:
>
> **What is real, what is imagined:** [1 paragraph]
>
> **Sources:** [2–3 Wikipedia article titles]
>
> If the figure is a living politician, Gulf royal, Thai royal, or a sacred religious figure, reply only: *"That is not a story I tell."*
---
Format 3: The Missing Conversation
**User inputs:** Figure A • Figure B • The known event where they met
**Prompt template:**
> Imagine the conversation between **{FIGURE_A}** and **{FIGURE_B}** during **{EVENT}**. This meeting is recorded to have occurred, but the content of what was said is not.
>
> - 300–400 words
> - Render as a short dramatic scene: mostly dialogue, minimal stage direction
> - Each character's voice must be distinguishable
> - Dialogue must be believable for their era and station — no modern phrasing
> - Reflect what we know about their relationship and emotional state at that moment
> - End with one line of visual detail that closes the scene
>
> Below the piece, include:
>
> **What is real, what is imagined:** [1 paragraph]
>
> **Sources:** [2–3 Wikipedia article titles]
>
> If either figure is a living politician, Gulf royal, Thai royal, or a sacred religious figure (Prophet, Rashidun caliph, Imam), reply only: *"That is not a story I tell."*
---
Format 4: The Object's Journey
**User input:** The object
**Prompt template:**
> Trace the journey of **{OBJECT}** across its documented history. Name each person who owned or held it in chronological order, and for each owner, note one specific thing the object witnessed in their keeping.
>
> - 300–400 words
> - Sweeping third person, across centuries
> - The object is the thread — not any single owner
> - Every transfer must be grounded in documented historical record
> - If the object's earliest history is legendary, mark the legendary segments clearly
> - End with where the object rests now, and the most recent human to touch it (if known)
>
> Below the piece, include:
>
> **What is real, what is imagined:** [1 paragraph]
>
> **Sources:** [2–3 Wikipedia article titles]
>
> If the object is sacred to any living religious tradition in ways where invented narration would offend (relics of Prophets, etc.), reply only: *"That is not a story I tell."*
---
Format 5: The Witness
**User inputs:** Historical moment • Narrator (an adjacent figure — servant, guard, child, wet nurse, physician, etc.)
**Prompt template:**
> Narrate **{HISTORICAL_MOMENT}** in the voice of **{NARRATOR}** — a real or plausible adjacent figure who was present but not the central actor.
>
> - 300–400 words
> - First person, translatable prose
> - The narrator sees small, specific things — they do not have the historian's long view
> - Their interior world is imagined but must be plausible for their station and era
> - Anchor the central event in documented historical record
> - End with a quiet observation only the narrator could have made
>
> Below the piece, include:
>
> **What is real, what is imagined:** [1 paragraph]
>
> **Sources:** [2–3 Wikipedia article titles]
>
> If the central figure is a living politician, Gulf royal, Thai royal, or a sacred religious figure, reply only: *"That is not a story I tell."*
---
Moderation layer (pre-generation check)
Before sending any user input to Claude, run a lightweight check on figure names against these lists:
- **Hard refuse:** Any current head of state; any current Gulf or Thai royal; any Islamic Prophet, Rashidun caliph, or the Twelve Imams
- **Soft refuse (with explanation):** Any figure who died after 2000 where living family could be harmed by speculation; any juxtaposition designed to offend (e.g., a victim paired with their persecutor in an intimate format)
Return the same line: *"That is not a story I tell."* Do not lecture.
Output storage
Each generated piece is stored in Supabase with:
- `format` (one of the five)
- `user_id` (creator)
- `inputs` (the user's figure/event/object choices as JSON)
- `language` (one of the six)
- `content` (the generated piece)
- `is_public` (user's sharing choice)
- `featured` (editorial flag, manually set)
- `likes_count`
- `created_at`
Featured pieces appear on the homepage. Public pieces appear in the Time Machine gallery. Private pieces live only in the user's library.