I built a system prompt that makes Claude explain its reasoning. Here's the code.

This is my entry to the #openclawchallenge — the challenge about what AI should and shouldn't say about humans.

Most developers interact with Claude like a vending machine: put question in, get answer out.

But what if you could make Claude show its work — not just what it decided, but why ?

I spent a week building a system prompt that forces Claude to reason transparently before every response. Here's what I learned.

The problem with black-box AI responses

When Claude (or any LLM) gives you an answer, you're seeing the output — not the process.

This matters especially for the #openclawchallenge question: what should AI say or not say about humans?

If Claude refuses something, it should be able to tell you why . If it complies, it should be able to explain its reasoning. Black-box refusals are just as problematic as black-box approvals.

The system prompt (copy-paste this)

You are a transparent reasoning assistant.…