# You can link to pre-populated chats

Published: 2025-08-20T00:00:00.000Z
Updated: 2025-12-03T00:00:00.000Z
Canonical: https://wow.pjh.is/journal/start-conversations-via-querystring

How can I give someone a link to a chat, where the first turn is pre-populated?

## ChatGPT: Use the "share" function

Start a chat, submit the first message, then use the "Share" button to get a link.

People who view the link can then continue the conversation in their own account ([example](https://chatgpt.com/share/68a5f7f7-5564-8008-9eab-46c8b234be14)).

![ChatGPT shared conversation UI](https://wow.pjh.is/static/images/blog/chatgpt-shared-conversation-ui.jpeg)

You can append a `model` query parameter to specify the model you want to use:

* [https://chatgpt.com/share/68a5f7f7-5564-8008-9eab-46c8b234be14?**model=gpt-5-thinking**](https://chatgpt.com/share/68a5f7f7-5564-8008-9eab-46c8b234be14?model=gpt-5-thinking)

## ChatGPT & Claude: use the querystring

To link to a "new chat" with the first turn pre-populated, you can do:

* [https://chatgpt.com?**q=Hey+ChatGPT**](https://chatgpt.com/?q=Hey+ChatGPT)
* [https://claude.ai/new?**q=Hey+Claude**](https://claude.ai/new?q=Hey+Claude)

You can pass about 750 words into ChatGPT, or 1500 words into Claude.[^1]

You can specify the model:

* [https://chatgpt.com/?q=Hey+ChatGPT&**model=gpt-5-thinking**](https://chatgpt.com/?q=Hey+ChatGPT\&model=gpt-5-thinking)
* [https://claude.ai/new?**model=claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929**](https://claude.ai/new?model=claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929)

**Issues with the querystring approach:**

* These features are undocumented. They have been available since early/mid 2024. But, they might break unexpectedly.
* If the user is not already logged in, they'll be prompted to login then redirected to a new chat without the pre-populated text.
* You'll want to [URL encode](https://www.urlencoder.org/) the text.

[^1]: Up to 6,000 characters for ChatGPT. 10,000 characters for Claude.