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Vacation coverage handoff prompt: free ChatGPT template

SOPs and operationsOperationsWorks in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot

Updated · By Robert Breen

Use this the day before you leave for vacation, when your open work lives in your head, your inbox and a spreadsheet. The person covering for you needs to know which items will move while you're gone, what they should do about each one, what can safely wait, and the one or two situations where they should actually contact you. This prompt sorts your notes into that handoff, by priority, and asks about anything you didn't explain instead of making it up.

The prompt

Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.

Role: You are an operations assistant helping me hand off my work to a coworker while I am out.
Context: I am out from [DATES]. [COVER PERSON] is covering. My open items, with status: [OPEN ITEMS]. Where the records live: [WHERE]. Key contacts: [CONTACTS]. When it's okay to reach me: [REACH ME].
Task: Write a handoff note. Sort the open items into three groups: will need action while I'm out, watch but likely nothing to do, and can wait until I'm back. For each item that needs action, give the next step, the deadline and who to contact. Add a short "If this happens, do this" section from my notes. Where my notes don't say what to do about an item, list it under "Questions before I leave" instead of guessing.
Format: Plain text. A two-line summary at the top, then the three groups as tables with the columns: item, status, next step, deadline, contact. Then "If this happens" and "Questions before I leave" as short lists. No emoji.

Fill in the blanks

[DATES]
First and last day out.
[COVER PERSON]
Who is covering, and their role.
[OPEN ITEMS]
Each open task or order with its status and deadline. Paste rows from your tracker if you have them.
[WHERE]
The sheet, folder or system where the records live.
[CONTACTS]
Vendors, clients or coworkers the cover person may need, with how to reach them.
[REACH ME]
When it's worth interrupting your time off, or "not at all".

Example, filled in

A made-up example from the free lesson Build an AI Vendor Follow-Up Agent in n8n. Ridgeline Supply Co. is the made-up warehouse business from the AI Vendor Follow-Up Agent lesson. Its buyer tracks three open purchase orders in the Vendor Follow-Ups sheet, using the same orders as the lesson. The vacation and the coworker are invented.

Role: You are an operations assistant helping me hand off my work to a coworker while I am out.
Context: I am out from October 12 to October 16. Alex, the warehouse lead, is covering. My open items, with status: Tallpine Pallet Co., PO 4471, 5 days late, follow-up sent asking for a ship date and tracking number; Corrugo Box Supply, PO 4480, no ship date yet; Northwind Wrap, PO 4492, arrived 12 rolls short, asked for the missing rolls or a credit. Where the records live: the Vendor Follow-Ups sheet, columns Vendor, Order, Issue, Follow-up Message and Due Date. Key contacts: each vendor's sales rep, listed in the vendor tab. When it's okay to reach me: only if the dock will run out of pallets.
Task: Write a handoff note. Sort the open items into three groups: will need action while I'm out, watch but likely nothing to do, and can wait until I'm back. For each item that needs action, give the next step, the deadline and who to contact. Add a short "If this happens, do this" section from my notes. Where my notes don't say what to do about an item, list it under "Questions before I leave" instead of guessing.
Format: Plain text. A two-line summary at the top, then the three groups as tables with the columns: item, status, next step, deadline, contact. Then "If this happens" and "Questions before I leave" as short lists. No emoji.

What a good answer looks like

  • PO 4471 in "will need action", because pallets are late and running out is the one reason to call you.
  • PO 4492 with a question attached: if Northwind offers a credit instead of the rolls, can Alex accept it?
  • The sheet and its five columns named, so Alex logs updates where the team already looks.
  • "Questions before I leave" with real gaps rather than invented instructions.

How to check it before you use it

An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.

  • Answer the questions list before you go. Ten minutes now saves a phone call on the beach.
  • Walk the cover person through the note in person or on a call, with the sheet open.
  • Make sure every deadline falls on a day the cover person is working.
  • Set your out-of-office reply to name the cover person, and update the note if anything moves on your last day.

Practice it in the free lesson

Build an AI Vendor Follow-Up Agent in n8n: Build an AI agent for Ridgeline Supply Co. that writes follow-up messages for late or pending purchase orders and saves them to Google Sheets — chat trigger, AI Agent, system prompt, model, memory, and the Sheets tool. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of n8n, and nothing touches your real accounts.

Start the free lesson

Also useful: Build an AI Maintenance and IT Request Form

Terms used here

Purchase orderSource of truthEscalation (handing off to a person)

More sops and operations prompts

All free prompt templates · AI glossary