Nookly Imagineer: Build Your Own Reusable Tools with AI

Most AI tools give a single output: Prompt → Output → Start over. Imagineer breaks that cycle. You don’t just generate a resource—you design a generator. Build the thinking layer once, then reuse it any time for different students, goals, or themes.

You generate a tool that helps you generate these resources, without having to search for a resource generator for hours or reuse standard templates every day. Instead of prompting a one-time output, you design something like:

“A Choice Board Generator” …and that tool will keep producing choice boards in the style you need every day — you just change the inputs (theme, age, number of choices, tone, etc.).

You're building a piece of software that you build once and reuse forever. You create the thinking layer once, and later, you or someone else can simply adjust a few settings and instantly generate a new resource using the same tool.

When you first open your Imagineer, you will see a screen that asks: “What will you imagine today?”

In this search box, you should describe, in a clear sentence, what you want your tool to create. Just say what the tool should do, as if you were explaining the idea to a colleague.

For example:

“A choice board for various activities.”

or:

“Articulation flashcards to target sounds.”

Imagineer reads your sentence and interprets the purpose of the tool. It begins forming a starting point based on what you are trying to create.

Once Imagineer understands your idea, it takes you to a space where you design the structure of your tool — the visual layout of what your output will look like. This is where Imagineer starts to resemble lesson planning. You are thinking about the resource in terms of:

Imagineer shows you some suggested rows and invites you to build on them with blocks — text blocks, image blocks, audio blocks, video blocks, or a combination of these. The rows are flexible; you can keep them simple, with one block per row, or you can place multiple blocks side-by-side if your output format benefits from multiple pieces of information being visually connected.

For example, in a choice board tool, you might decide:

Each block can be one of several types:

By dragging, removing, resizing, and rearranging these blocks, you are designing the template that your future tool will generate every time someone uses it. Imagineer is watching this carefully: every block you place becomes a building point in the future tool.

Once your structure is set, Imagineer asks you to define variables. Variables are fields that users (including you, later) will fill in to customize what the tool produces. They allow the same tool to generate completely different materials simply by changing a few values.

You are deciding, in essence:

“What should stay constant in this tool, and what should be changeable?”

Imagineer will suggest variables based on your layout. You can edit them, delete the ones you don’t need, or add your own.

You might decide that other educators should be able to adjust any of the following:

You can choose whether a variable should be a text field (open-ended), a dropdown (controlled selection), or a number field (exact quantity).

Now that the structure and variables are defined, Imagineer needs instructions for how to fill each block. This is where you explain the thinking that normally happens in your head.

Each content block (Text, Image, Song, etc.) has its own “mini instruction sheet.”
That instruction sheet has three parts:

The Who section is where you tell Imagineer what role it should play while writing. Example:

“You are an expert in designing morning routines for children.”

Why this matters: When the AI knows its role, it writes more confidently and more accurately. If you are creating speech cards, the role might be “You are a certified speech therapist specializing in articulation practice.” For SEL cards, it could be “You are a child psychologist experienced in emotional regulation tools.”

You are defining the lens through which the AI thinks.

This is the heart of the prompt. Example:

“Create a list of 4 engaging and simple steps for a morning routine suitable for Toddlers.”

Here you explain:

Good task instructions include:

Variables are inserted automatically based on the tool structure, and they show up as colored tags (like Target Age Group, Tone, Routine Topic, Number of Slides).

Variables tell Imagineer:

“This part should change every time the tool is used.” For example:

Imagineer uses these variable values to tailor the generated content.

Clicking Test generates a draft of what the AI would write based on your current instructions and variable values. This is like saying: “Show me what you understood.” It helps you catch issues early — before saving the tool.

Clicking Optimize asks Imagineer to improve the prompt itself — not the output. Think of it as:

“Rewrite this instruction to be clearer, stronger, and more efficient.”

Imagineer might:

It does not change the output — it improves the instruction.

When reviewing what Imagineer generates, ask:

If something feels off, you can refine the prompt by chatting with Nookly in the side chat and giving specific advice on what the prompt should show.

Imagineer generates a sample output so you can see how the tool behaves using default variable values. If the structure looks right but a block’s instructions need adjustment, you can go back, update that block’s prompt, and preview again. This step is a lot like proofreading a worksheet before printing it.

Once everything looks correct, give your tool a name and save it. Your tool now lives in your Imagineered Tools library.

You can then choose between saving it privately (a tool only for you) or sharing it with the community (which allows community members to view & reuse the tool you designed!)

When the tool is saved, it becomes available to use, just like any built-in Nookly tool.

To use it:

Imagineer applies the logic you wrote to the structure you built, using the variable values you entered, and produces the final resource.

You can then:

The key here is that you do not rebuild the tool, you simply use it to generate a resource right away!

With Imagineer, you're not just prompting content. You are producing a system that produces content.

This means every time you spend 10 minutes building a tool, you save hours later — and you make something that other educators and therapists can reuse as well.

Ready to build your own tools?