30 A bot speaks for a body of knowledge, not as a person

What people usually ask

Build a chatbot that answers like me from my notes.

What comes back

A bot that speaks in the first person, signs its answers with the owner’s name, and fills the gaps in the notes with invented facts in the same voice.

Ask this instead

Write the system prompt for an assistant over my notes folder (<path>, about 300 Markdown files on <topic, for example membrane cleaning methods>). The prompt must set these rules:
1. Neutral voice, never "I". It speaks for the notes, not for me.
2. Every answer names the note or notes it came from, by file name.
3. When part of an answer comes from general knowledge and not from a note, that part is marked "not in the notes".
4. When the notes have nothing on the question, it says so and gives the reader <name or role> to ask. No guess.
5. No opinions, no "I think", no sign off with my name.
Then test it with these five questions, none of which the notes answer: <five questions>. Show the five replies in full. If any reply states a fact, the prompt has failed; change it and run the five again.

Attach: The notes folder and the five test questions.

Why it works: Five questions the notes cannot answer show at once whether the bot invents, and a neutral voice keeps any invented sentence from carrying the owner’s name.