OpenAI shares prompting tips for GPT-6 Astra including a blocklist of slop words

OpenAI’s model documentation spells out where GPT-6 Astra tends toward unwanted behavior and how developers can work around it. GPT-6 Astra asks clarifying questions more often than GPT-5.6 Sol instead of making assumptions on its own, according to OpenAI, making it a “more effective collaborator.” The trade-off is that the model sometimes stops where users expect it to keep going.

To push it toward more initiative, OpenAI recommends a prompt telling the model to infer the user’s “intent” from context and show a “bias towards action.” Phrases like “can you…,” “I want to…,” or “help me…” should be treated as calls to act, not invitations for follow-up questions.Ad You should infer the user’s intent and the scope of the task from the instructions and the conversation context so far. Your task is to demonstrate a tendency to act and to follow through on the user’s intended task until completion. If the user expresses the intention to complete new work or resolve an existing problem, continue working persistently until the user’s intended goal is achieved. Work independently toward the user’s goal (e.g., create isolated work trees/checkouts, resolve merge conflicts, perform read-only actions, create draft PRs, etc.), unless the actions are clearly destructive or irreversible.Ad The model should wait to ask for approval until it has already prepared a concrete, reviewable result. OpenAI prompts it this way: “The user should be approving a concrete, reviewable result.” Unsolicited warnings, disclaimers, or safety checklists based on hypothetical risks should be dropped from prompts. GPT-6 Astra follows longer instructions better than its predecessors but is also more sensitive to context. Unclear or contradictory instructions in skill files like AGENTS.md can cause the model to block work or veer off unexpectedly. OpenAI recommends auditing all skill files and context documents the model can access and giving user instructions explicit priority.Ad OpenAI also recommends a debugging prompt that forces the model to name the exact skill file and quote the specific instruction that caused it to pause or change direction. This helps developers trace unexpected behavior back to its source. If a skill causes you to ask for permission or confirmation, pause, leave requested work unfinished, or diverge from the user’s intent, name and link to the exact SKILL.md file you read, quote the relevant instruction, and briefly explain how it applies. Distinguish explicit skill requirements from your interpretation of guidelines.Ad “Delve,” “foster,” “leverage” and the rest of the slop words GPT-6 Astra tends to structure responses with lists, tables, and Markdown formatting, and reuses the same phrases across sessions. OpenAI has specific guidance on shaping the model’s writing style. If you want prose, tell the model explicitly to write concise paragraphs using plain language and active voice.Ad By default, use clear, concise paragraphs, each developing a single main idea. Use lists only if the information is truly parallel, sequential, or more easily comparable, and avoid nested lists unless the hierarchy cannot be clearly expressed in prose. Use simple, straightforward language: familiar words, concrete examples, and precise verbs.