# Turn meeting notes into action items

Turn rough meeting notes into a clear list of action items with owners and due dates, plus decisions made and questions left open.

Paste into: **a new Claude conversation**

## Prompt template

How the builder on the page fills in this template, so you can do the same:

- `{{key}}` becomes the text entered for that field, exactly as typed. Empty text, or text that is only whitespace (spaces, tabs or line breaks), counts as empty: a required field then becomes `[fill in: <label>]` with its label, and an optional field becomes nothing.
- For a choice field, `{{key}}` becomes the text of the chosen option, or of the default when none is chosen.
- Text between `{{#key}}` and `{{/key}}` stays only when that field is not empty; a choice field always counts as filled. The markers themselves are removed, and a marker that stands alone on its line takes its line break with it.
- Each value is inserted once, as it is: `{{…}}` inside a value stays as typed.

```text
<notes>
{{notes}}
</notes>
{{#attendees}}

Attendees: {{attendees}}
{{/attendees}}

Turn the meeting notes above into action items.

Format: {{format}}

For each action item, give:
- The task, starting with a verb.
- The owner, if the notes name one.
- The due date, if the notes give one.

Write "unassigned" or "no date" when the notes do not say. Do not guess owners or dates.

After the action items, add two short sections:
- Decisions made: what the group agreed on.
- Open questions: anything raised but not settled.

Use only what is in the notes. If an item is ambiguous, for example two people seem to own it, list it once and flag the ambiguity.
```

## Fields

- `{{notes}}` (required): Meeting notes. Rough notes are fine. Remove anything confidential that you are not allowed to share.
- `{{attendees}}`: Who attended. Optional. Names and roles help Claude match tasks to the right people.
- `{{format}}`: Format. Choose one:
  - Checklist (default)
  - Table

This site doesn't run Claude or show model output. Results depend on your input and the model you use.

## When to use this template

- You have notes or a transcript from a meeting and need a list of who does what by when.
- You want to send a short follow-up so everyone agrees on the decisions and next steps.
- The notes are messy and you want the action items separated from discussion and side topics.

## When not to use it

- The meeting was confidential, or the notes include personal data you are not allowed to share.
- You need minutes in a formal or legal format. Those usually require specific wording and approval.
- Nobody took notes. A list built from memory is better written by you; Claude can then tidy it.

## Why this structure

- The notes come first inside `<notes>` tags, with the optional attendee line after them, so the material is separate from the instructions.
- Each item asks for a task, an owner and a due date, which are the three things people need to act on it.
- The explicit "unassigned" and "no date" labels ask Claude to show gaps rather than fill them with guessed names or dates.
- Decisions and open questions are separate sections, which asks Claude to keep agreements apart from tasks and to list the points that are still unresolved.
- The last paragraph limits Claude to the notes and asks it to flag ambiguous items, which matters most when you forward the list to others.

## Example input (fictional)

Meeting notes:

```
Website refresh sync (fictional team). Agreed to launch the new homepage in two weeks. Ben to fix the contact form bug by Friday. Someone needs to update the pricing page copy, maybe Chloe? Still unsure whether the blog moves to the new design.
```

Who attended:

```
Ana (design), Ben (engineering), Chloe (sales)
```

Format:

```
Checklist
```

## Follow-ups to send Claude

- Write a short follow-up email to the attendees with these action items and decisions.
- Which action items have no owner or date? Suggest who could own each, based only on the notes.
- Group the action items by owner.

## Common mistakes

- Sending the list without checking owners. People notice quickly when they are assigned something they did not agree to.
- Pasting notes that use initials or nicknames without the attendee list. Claude cannot know that "B" is Ben.
- Dropping the open questions. They are often the reason the next meeting is needed.

## Related templates

- [Summarize a document](https://awesomeclaudeprompts.com/prompts/summarize-document/): Turn a long document into a faithful summary: main point first, key points by importance, then decisions and open questions.
- [Reply to an email](https://awesomeclaudeprompts.com/prompts/reply-to-email/): Draft a reply that addresses each question in an email, aims at your goal in the tone you choose, and flags what you still need to decide.

## Sources

- [Prompting best practices: Structure prompts with XML tags](https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/prompt-engineering/claude-prompting-best-practices#structure-prompts-with-xml-tags) (Anthropic documentation)
- [Reduce hallucinations](https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/test-and-evaluate/strengthen-guardrails/reduce-hallucinations) (Anthropic documentation)

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