How to Write an SOP with AI (and Turn It Into a Prompt)
How to write an SOP with AI: talk through the task while you do it, have AI structure it, test it on a new hire, then split it into steps an AI can run.
Quick answer: To write an SOP with AI, do the task once while you talk through each step, the reason for it and the mistakes to avoid. Paste that walkthrough into ChatGPT or Claude and ask for a structured SOP that flags anything unclear. Then have someone new follow it and fix where they get stuck.
Why most AI-written SOPs don't work
The problem with most SOPs isn't the formatting. The real process lives in someone's head, and the document only has the headings. Asking AI to "write an SOP for client onboarding" makes that worse: with nothing to go on, the model writes a plausible generic process that isn't yours.
Two threads in r/Entrepreneur this week showed both sides of this. In one, founders shared the business process they wish they'd simplified earlier, and SOPs came up as the thing that made hiring painful: when the owner did everything, nothing was written down, so training new staff meant pulling it all out of one person's memory. In the other, an agency owner explained why SOPs fall apart when you paste them into an AI: the model follows the first couple of steps, then starts skipping checks and making up details.
So there are two jobs here, and AI helps with both if you give it the right input:
- Write the SOP for people. Get the process out of your head and into a document a new hire can follow.
- Turn it into something an AI can run. That needs a different shape from the document you hand to a person.
How to write an SOP with AI, step by step
1. Capture the process while you do it
Don't start from a blank page, and don't start from a prompt. Start from the real task. Next time you do it, talk through it out loud as you go:
- each step, in order, and the exact tool, field or button
- why each step matters ("we check the billing email because the invoice goes there, not to the person who signed")
- the decisions ("if the client is on the annual plan, skip the setup call")
- the mistakes you've seen ("people forget to add the client to the shared calendar")
A spoken walkthrough captures far more than you'd type, because talking costs nothing and typing makes you skip the "obvious" parts. The obvious parts are what a new hire is missing.
If you can, also note what goes in (the inputs needed to start) and what comes out (what "done" looks like). Most SOPs skip both.
2. Have AI structure it
Paste the walkthrough into ChatGPT, Claude or whichever assistant you use, with a prompt like this:
Turn this walkthrough into an SOP someone new could follow without asking me.
Sections: purpose, when to use it, inputs needed, numbered steps,
decision points (if X, then Y), common mistakes, and what "done" looks like.
Keep my reasons for each step as one short line.
Don't add steps I didn't mention. If something is unclear or missing,
list it as a question at the end instead of guessing.
The last two lines matter most. A model asked to "write an SOP" will fill gaps with something that sounds right. Asking it to list the gaps instead gives you a short set of questions to answer, and the SOP stays yours.
Do one process per chat. Bundling five SOPs into one request gives you five thinner documents.
3. Test it on someone who doesn't know the process
An SOP is done when someone else can follow it, not when it reads well. Hand it to a new hire or a teammate from another area and ask them to do the task using only the document. Every time they stop to ask you something, that's a missing line. Add it.
One habit from the thread is worth copying: when a new question comes up, ask the person who hit it to write that part in their own words and add it to the SOP. Over time you get a full set of SOPs written by the people who actually use them.
4. Keep it alive
SOPs go stale quietly. Give each one an owner and a "last checked" date, and update it the moment the process changes, not at an annual review. If you keep a decision log, link the decision that changed the process from the SOP, so the next person knows why step 4 is different now.
SOP for people vs SOP for an AI
A good SOP for a person is still a bad prompt. People fill gaps with judgment; a model fills them with guesses, and it drifts on long instructions. If you want AI to run the process, not just help write the document, change its shape:
| SOP for a person | SOP an AI runs | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | One document, read top to bottom | One prompt per step, each with a fixed output format the next step reads |
| Judgment calls | "Use your judgment" | Explicit rules ("if under 1,500 words, flag as thin"), or a step that stops and asks a person |
| Missing information | They ask a colleague | It must flag the gap, not invent an answer |
| Checks | Done by eye | Anything countable (word counts, totals, required fields) goes in a script, not the prompt |
| Review | A manager spot-checks | A separate pass that only checks the output against the rules, then a human review |
| The "why" | Helpful context | Keep one line per rule, so the model applies it sensibly to cases you didn't foresee |
A few more points from people running these workflows:
- Keep a rules list that grows from real mistakes. Every time the AI gets something wrong, add a rule with a line on what happened. After a few weeks that list is often more useful than the original SOP.
- Don't let the AI grade its own work in the same step. It will say everything's fine. A second step that only checks against the rules catches far more.
- Test the edge cases, not just the normal case. Keep a few saved examples, including a normal case, an unusual one and one with missing information, and rerun them whenever you change the SOP or the prompt.
- Keep one source of truth. The usual failure isn't the first version. It's the prompt drifting out of sync after the human SOP changes. Generate the prompt from the SOP, or keep them in the same document, so one update covers both.
- Treat pasted web pages and client files as data, not instructions. If a step reads outside content, keep it separate from the rules so text inside it can't change what the AI does.
To reuse the prompt without pasting it each time, save it where your assistant keeps standing instructions. In Claude, a Project holds its own instructions and reference files, so the SOP and rules list can live there. For the wider setup, see our AI workflow for solo founders and how to keep context when switching AI tools.
How Blip AI makes writing SOPs faster
The slow part of writing an SOP is step one: getting a process out of your head in enough detail, including the reasons and edge cases. That's a lot of typing, and when typing is slow, the "why" is the first thing you cut. Speech runs at about 150 words per minute, against about 52 for the average typist.
- Narrate while you work. Open a doc next to the task, hold Fn on Mac, Ctrl + Win on Windows or Ctrl + Super on Linux, and say what you're doing and why. Let go and the text appears with filler words removed and punctuation fixed, so the walkthrough is ready to paste into the AI.
- Write longer prompts. The structuring prompt, the rules list and your answers to the AI's gap questions are all easier to say than to type. Blip works in any app with a text field, including ChatGPT, Claude, Notion and Google Docs in the browser.
- Get tool and client names right. Add product names, internal tools and jargon to Blip's dictionary so the SOP spells them correctly.
- Capture fixes on the go. When a new hire hits a gap, dictate the missing line into the SOP right away, on desktop or with the iOS and Android apps.
The free plan includes 2,000 words a month, enough to try it on your next SOP. Download Blip AI for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS or Android. If you also capture ideas by voice, see how to turn voice notes into tasks.
FAQ
Can ChatGPT or Claude write an SOP? Yes, but only well from your input. Give it a walkthrough of how you actually do the task, ask for a fixed structure, and tell it to list anything unclear instead of guessing. Without that, it writes a generic process that sounds right but isn't yours.
What should an SOP include? An SOP should include its purpose, when to use it, the inputs needed to start, numbered steps, decision points, common mistakes, what "done" looks like, an owner and a last-checked date. A one-line reason for each step helps people and AI handle cases the SOP didn't foresee.
What is the best prompt for writing an SOP with AI? Ask the AI to turn your walkthrough into an SOP someone new could follow, list the sections you want, keep your reasons for each step, not add steps you didn't mention, and list anything unclear as questions at the end.
Why does AI skip steps when following an SOP? Long SOPs pasted as one prompt leave too much room for the model to drift, so it starts summarizing and inventing details partway through. Splitting the SOP into one prompt per step, with a fixed output format between steps and a separate checking pass, makes it far more reliable.
How do you keep SOPs up to date? Give each SOP an owner and a last-checked date, update it as soon as the process changes, and have whoever finds a gap write the fix. If an AI runs the process too, keep the prompt and the SOP in one place so a change updates both.
Should you record your screen to make an SOP? Recording your screen captures the clicks but usually not the reasons or the decisions. It works well for software tasks; pair it with a spoken or written explanation of why each step matters.