diff --git a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/base.py b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/base.py
index 7894dcfa5..f5cfef982 100644
--- a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/base.py
+++ b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/base.py
@@ -9,12 +9,13 @@
 from jupyter_ai.config_manager import ConfigManager, Logger
 from jupyter_ai.models import AgentChatMessage, HumanChatMessage
 from jupyter_ai_magics.providers import BaseProvider
+from traitlets.config import Configurable
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from jupyter_ai.handlers import RootChatHandler
 
 
-class BaseChatHandler:
+class BaseChatHandler(Configurable):
     """Base ChatHandler class containing shared methods and attributes used by
     multiple chat handler classes."""
 
@@ -23,7 +24,10 @@ def __init__(
         log: Logger,
         config_manager: ConfigManager,
         root_chat_handlers: Dict[str, "RootChatHandler"],
+        *args,
+        **kwargs,
     ):
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
         self.log = log
         self.config_manager = config_manager
         self._root_chat_handlers = root_chat_handlers
@@ -94,6 +98,28 @@ def reply(self, response: str, human_msg: Optional[HumanChatMessage] = None):
             handler.broadcast_message(agent_msg)
             break
 
+    @property
+    def lm_id(self):
+        """Retrieves the language model ID from the config manager."""
+        lm_provider = self.config_manager.lm_provider
+        lm_provider_params = self.config_manager.lm_provider_params
+
+        if lm_provider:
+            return lm_provider.id + ":" + lm_provider_params["model_id"]
+        else:
+            return None
+
+    @property
+    def em_id(self):
+        """Retrieves the embedding model ID from the config manager."""
+        em_provider = self.config_manager.em_provider
+        em_provider_params = self.config_manager.em_provider_params
+
+        if em_provider:
+            return em_provider.id + ":" + em_provider_params["model_id"]
+        else:
+            return None
+
     def get_llm_chain(self):
         lm_provider = self.config_manager.lm_provider
         lm_provider_params = self.config_manager.lm_provider_params
diff --git a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/default.py b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/default.py
index 3638b6cfb..5f798b5ef 100644
--- a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/default.py
+++ b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/chat_handlers/default.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from typing import Dict, List, Type
 
 from jupyter_ai.models import ChatMessage, ClearMessage, HumanChatMessage
+from jupyter_ai.prompt_templates import ChatPromptTemplates
 from jupyter_ai_magics.providers import BaseProvider
 from langchain.chains import ConversationChain
 from langchain.memory import ConversationBufferWindowMemory
@@ -14,22 +15,6 @@
 
 from .base import BaseChatHandler
 
-SYSTEM_PROMPT = """
-You are Jupyternaut, a conversational assistant living in JupyterLab to help users.
-You are not a language model, but rather an application built on a foundation model from {provider_name} called {local_model_id}.
-You are talkative and you provide lots of specific details from the foundation model's context.
-You may use Markdown to format your response.
-Code blocks must be formatted in Markdown.
-Math should be rendered with inline TeX markup, surrounded by $.
-If you do not know the answer to a question, answer truthfully by responding that you do not know.
-The following is a friendly conversation between you and a human.
-""".strip()
-
-DEFAULT_TEMPLATE = """Current conversation:
-{history}
-Human: {input}
-AI:"""
-
 
 class DefaultChatHandler(BaseChatHandler):
     def __init__(self, chat_history: List[ChatMessage], *args, **kwargs):
@@ -37,6 +22,10 @@ def __init__(self, chat_history: List[ChatMessage], *args, **kwargs):
         self.memory = ConversationBufferWindowMemory(return_messages=True, k=2)
         self.chat_history = chat_history
 
+    @property
+    def templates(self):
+        return ChatPromptTemplates(self.lm_id, config=self.config)
+
     def create_llm_chain(
         self, provider: Type[BaseProvider], provider_params: Dict[str, str]
     ):
@@ -45,9 +34,9 @@ def create_llm_chain(
         if llm.is_chat_provider:
             prompt_template = ChatPromptTemplate.from_messages(
                 [
-                    SystemMessagePromptTemplate.from_template(SYSTEM_PROMPT).format(
-                        provider_name=llm.name, local_model_id=llm.model_id
-                    ),
+                    SystemMessagePromptTemplate.from_template(
+                        self.templates.system
+                    ).format(provider_name=llm.name, local_model_id=llm.model_id),
                     MessagesPlaceholder(variable_name="history"),
                     HumanMessagePromptTemplate.from_template("{input}"),
                 ]
@@ -56,11 +45,11 @@ def create_llm_chain(
         else:
             prompt_template = PromptTemplate(
                 input_variables=["history", "input"],
-                template=SYSTEM_PROMPT.format(
+                template=self.templates.system.format(
                     provider_name=llm.name, local_model_id=llm.model_id
                 )
                 + "\n\n"
-                + DEFAULT_TEMPLATE,
+                + self.templates.default,
             )
             self.memory = ConversationBufferWindowMemory(k=2)
 
diff --git a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/extension.py b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/extension.py
index a2ecd5245..e1a232c0e 100644
--- a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/extension.py
+++ b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/extension.py
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ def initialize_settings(self):
         # initialize chat handlers
         chat_handler_kwargs = {
             "log": self.log,
+            "config": self.config,  # traitlets config
             "config_manager": self.settings["jai_config_manager"],
             "root_chat_handlers": self.settings["jai_root_chat_handlers"],
         }
diff --git a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/prompt_templates.py b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/prompt_templates.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0899373f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/prompt_templates.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+from traitlets import Dict, Unicode
+from traitlets.config import Configurable
+
+SYSTEM_TEMPLATE = """
+You are Jupyternaut, a conversational assistant living in JupyterLab to help users.
+You are not a language model, but rather an application built on a foundation model from {provider_name} called {local_model_id}.
+You are talkative and you provide lots of specific details from the foundation model's context.
+You may use Markdown to format your response.
+Code blocks must be formatted in Markdown.
+Math should be rendered with inline TeX markup, surrounded by $.
+If you do not know the answer to a question, answer truthfully by responding that you do not know.
+The following is a friendly conversation between you and a human.
+""".strip()
+
+HISTORY_TEMPLATE = """
+Current conversation:
+{history}
+Human: {input}
+AI:
+""".strip()
+
+
+class ChatPromptTemplates(Configurable):
+    system_template = Unicode(
+        default_value=SYSTEM_TEMPLATE,
+        help="The system prompt template.",
+        allow_none=False,
+        config=True,
+    )
+
+    system_overrides = Dict(
+        key_trait=Unicode(),
+        value_trait=Unicode(),
+        default_value={},
+        help="Defines model-specific overrides of the system prompt template.",
+        allow_none=False,
+        config=True,
+    )
+
+    history_template = Unicode(
+        default_value=HISTORY_TEMPLATE,
+        help="The history prompt template.",
+        allow_none=False,
+        config=True,
+    )
+
+    history_overrides = Dict(
+        key_trait=Unicode(),
+        value_trait=Unicode(),
+        default_value={},
+        help="Defines model-specific overrides of the history prompt template.",
+        allow_none=False,
+        config=True,
+    )
+
+    lm_id: str = None
+
+    def __init__(self, lm_id, *args, **kwargs):
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    @property
+    def system(self) -> str:
+        return self.system_overrides.get(self.lm_id, self.system_template)
+
+    @property
+    def history(self) -> str:
+        return self.history_overrides.get(self.lm_id, self.history_template)
+
+
+class AskPromptTemplates(Configurable):
+    ...
+
+
+class GeneratePromptTemplates(Configurable):
+    ...