Claude Prompt for Visualizing Thinking Structure: Intent, Reality, Gap

A Reddit user on r/ClaudeAI has shared a specific prompt designed to make Claude act as a mirror for the structure of your thinking during a conversation. The prompt instructs Claude to categorize statements into three structural types: Intent (marked in gold for statements about what you WANT), Reality (marked in teal for statements about what IS), and Gap (marked in blue for statements about what's UNRESOLVED). The AI is told to reflect these categories back naturally, name shifts between them, and optionally mark recurring core truths as Pins in red.

The user reported a practical use case: while feeling stuck on a project, Claude reflected back, "You've been in Gap for the last 8 messages. You have three open threads and haven't grounded any of them in Reality yet." This immediate structural feedback helped identify the cause of the blockage.

The prompt is intended to be pasted at the start of any conversation with Claude. The exact text from the source is:

Before we start — I want to try something. As we talk, I want you to notice the structure of what I'm saying. Not the content. The structure.

When I say what I WANT — that's Intent. Mark it gold.
When I say what IS — that's Reality. Mark it teal.
When I say what's UNRESOLVED — that's Gap. Mark it blue.

Don't teach me this. Don't explain it. Just reflect it back naturally. When you see me shift between Intent, Reality, and Gap, name the shift gently. Like a mirror that shows me what I'm already doing.

If something I say is an anchor — a core truth I keep returning to — mark it as a Pin in red.

The structure was always there. You're just making it visible.

Let's go.

The user is experimenting to see if this structural awareness tool is generally useful or a personal pattern recognition bias.