diff --git a/app/Services/Ai/AiAssistantService.php b/app/Services/Ai/AiAssistantService.php
index 2e0007bf..44ec524e 100644
--- a/app/Services/Ai/AiAssistantService.php
+++ b/app/Services/Ai/AiAssistantService.php
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ use App\Models\User;
 use App\Services\AiConfigurationService;
 use App\Support\Ai\AiChatResponse;
 use App\Support\Ai\AiException;
+use App\Support\Ai\PromptLoader;
 use Carbon\Carbon;
 use InvalidArgumentException;
 use Throwable;
@@ -229,29 +230,21 @@ class AiAssistantService
 
     /**
      * Compose the system prompt with company context.
+     *
+     * The template itself lives at resources/ai/prompts/chat-system.md so
+     * it can be edited without touching this class. See PromptLoader for
+     * the substitution rules.
      */
     protected function buildSystemPrompt(AiConversation $conversation): string
     {
         $company = Company::find($conversation->company_id);
         $user = User::find($conversation->user_id);
 
-        $companyName = $company?->name ?? 'this company';
-        $userName = $user?->name ?? 'the user';
-        $today = Carbon::now()->toDateString();
-
-        return <<<PROMPT
-You are the InvoiceShelf assistant, embedded in an invoicing application. You help {$userName} answer questions about **{$companyName}**'s data: invoices, estimates, payments, expenses, customers, and items.
-
-Today is {$today}.
-
-Rules:
-- Use the provided tools whenever the user asks about specific records. Do not invent data.
-- Only answer questions about {$companyName}'s data. If asked about another company or unrelated topics, politely decline.
-- You cannot modify data — you are read-only. If the user asks you to create/update/delete something, explain that they need to do it in the UI.
-- Be concise. Format responses in Markdown (headings, **bold**, bullet lists, tables when comparing multiple records).
-- Use emoji sparingly as visual cues on status and totals: ✅ paid, 🟡 partially paid, ⚠️ overdue, 📝 draft, 📤 sent, 👁️ viewed, ❌ declined/rejected, 💰 totals, 📅 dates, 📊 stats, 💡 tips. One emoji per bullet is plenty — don't decorate every sentence.
-- If a tool returns an error or empty result, say so plainly and suggest a next step.
-PROMPT;
+        return PromptLoader::load('chat-system', [
+            'user_name' => $user?->name ?? 'the user',
+            'company_name' => $company?->name ?? 'this company',
+            'today' => Carbon::now()->toDateString(),
+        ]);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/app/Services/Ai/AiTextGenerationService.php b/app/Services/Ai/AiTextGenerationService.php
index 1c5db25e..eb8f3e15 100644
--- a/app/Services/Ai/AiTextGenerationService.php
+++ b/app/Services/Ai/AiTextGenerationService.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ namespace App\Services\Ai;
 
 use App\Services\AiConfigurationService;
 use App\Support\Ai\AiException;
+use App\Support\Ai\PromptLoader;
 
 /**
  * Stateless one-shot text generation for the WYSIWYG popup.
@@ -67,13 +68,14 @@ class AiTextGenerationService
      * Keep the framing terse — text-generation output should not be padded
      * with "Here is the text you requested:" preambles. The instruction is
      * always placed last so the model gives it the most weight.
+     *
+     * The static preamble lives at resources/ai/prompts/text-generation.md.
+     * The conditional context + instruction appending stays here because it
+     * has different structure depending on whether `context` is present.
      */
     protected function buildPrompt(string $prompt, ?string $context): string
     {
-        $system = "You are a helpful writing assistant embedded in an invoicing application. Generate text based on the user's instruction. Rules:\n"
-            .'- Return only the requested text. No preamble, no explanation, no markdown code fences.'."\n"
-            .'- Match the tone and language implied by the instruction.'."\n"
-            .'- Be concise unless explicitly asked for length.';
+        $system = PromptLoader::load('text-generation');
 
         if ($context !== null && trim($context) !== '') {
             return $system."\n\n"
diff --git a/app/Support/Ai/PromptLoader.php b/app/Support/Ai/PromptLoader.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c1ab7c65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/Support/Ai/PromptLoader.php
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace App\Support\Ai;
+
+use RuntimeException;
+
+/**
+ * Loads LLM prompt templates from disk and performs lightweight
+ * placeholder substitution.
+ *
+ * Prompts live as plain markdown files under `resources/ai/prompts/`
+ * so they can be edited without touching PHP service classes, get
+ * syntax-highlighted in editors, and produce clean PR diffs. Keeping
+ * the templates outside PHP also sidesteps heredoc indentation
+ * rules and interpolation quirks (dollar signs, curly braces).
+ *
+ * Placeholders use the `{{name}}` double-brace form — a common
+ * template convention that doesn't collide with markdown syntax and
+ * is trivial to substitute via strtr(). We deliberately do NOT use
+ * Blade for this: Blade's `{{ $var }}` HTML-escapes ampersands and
+ * quotes, which would corrupt prompts that reference names like
+ * "Smith & Co" (the model would see "Smith &amp; Co").
+ */
+class PromptLoader
+{
+    /**
+     * Load a prompt template and substitute any placeholders.
+     *
+     * @param  string  $name  Template filename without extension (e.g. 'chat-system').
+     * @param  array<string, scalar|\Stringable>  $vars  Placeholder => value map.
+     *
+     * @throws RuntimeException when the template file does not exist.
+     */
+    public static function load(string $name, array $vars = []): string
+    {
+        $path = resource_path("ai/prompts/{$name}.md");
+
+        if (! is_file($path)) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Missing AI prompt template: {$name} (expected at {$path})");
+        }
+
+        $template = (string) file_get_contents($path);
+
+        if ($vars === []) {
+            return trim($template);
+        }
+
+        $replacements = [];
+        foreach ($vars as $key => $value) {
+            $replacements['{{'.$key.'}}'] = (string) $value;
+        }
+
+        return trim(strtr($template, $replacements));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/resources/ai/prompts/chat-system.md b/resources/ai/prompts/chat-system.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4abbdccf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/resources/ai/prompts/chat-system.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+You are the InvoiceShelf assistant, embedded in an invoicing application. You help {{user_name}} answer questions about **{{company_name}}**'s data: invoices, estimates, payments, expenses, customers, and items.
+
+Today is {{today}}.
+
+Rules:
+- Use the provided tools whenever the user asks about specific records. Do not invent data.
+- Only answer questions about {{company_name}}'s data. If asked about another company or unrelated topics, politely decline.
+- You cannot modify data — you are read-only. If the user asks you to create/update/delete something, explain that they need to do it in the UI.
+- Be concise. Format responses in Markdown (headings, **bold**, bullet lists, tables when comparing multiple records).
+- Use emoji sparingly as visual cues on status and totals: ✅ paid, 🟡 partially paid, ⚠️ overdue, 📝 draft, 📤 sent, 👁️ viewed, ❌ declined/rejected, 💰 totals, 📅 dates, 📊 stats, 💡 tips. One emoji per bullet is plenty — don't decorate every sentence.
+- If a tool returns an error or empty result, say so plainly and suggest a next step.
diff --git a/resources/ai/prompts/text-generation.md b/resources/ai/prompts/text-generation.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7de959e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/resources/ai/prompts/text-generation.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+You are a helpful writing assistant embedded in an invoicing application. Generate text based on the user's instruction. Rules:
+- Return only the requested text. No preamble, no explanation, no markdown code fences.
+- Match the tone and language implied by the instruction.
+- Be concise unless explicitly asked for length.
diff --git a/tests/Unit/PromptLoaderTest.php b/tests/Unit/PromptLoaderTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2136fdb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/PromptLoaderTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<?php
+
+use App\Support\Ai\PromptLoader;
+
+test('load substitutes placeholders in the chat-system template', function () {
+    $prompt = PromptLoader::load('chat-system', [
+        'user_name' => 'Jane Doe',
+        'company_name' => 'Acme Corp',
+        'today' => '2026-04-11',
+    ]);
+
+    // Substituted values present
+    expect($prompt)->toContain('Jane Doe');
+    expect($prompt)->toContain('Acme Corp');
+    expect($prompt)->toContain('2026-04-11');
+
+    // Raw placeholders are gone
+    expect($prompt)->not->toContain('{{user_name}}');
+    expect($prompt)->not->toContain('{{company_name}}');
+    expect($prompt)->not->toContain('{{today}}');
+});
+
+test('load returns a trimmed template when no placeholders are provided', function () {
+    $prompt = PromptLoader::load('text-generation');
+
+    expect($prompt)->not->toBe('');
+    // No leading/trailing whitespace — trim() stripped the trailing newline.
+    expect($prompt)->toBe(trim($prompt));
+    // Sanity-check a word known to appear in the preamble.
+    expect($prompt)->toContain('writing assistant');
+});
+
+test('load throws when the template file is missing', function () {
+    expect(fn () => PromptLoader::load('definitely-not-a-real-prompt'))
+        ->toThrow(RuntimeException::class, 'Missing AI prompt template: definitely-not-a-real-prompt');
+});