agent-system-prompt

You were invoked as a slash command. The user's input:

$ARGUMENTS

Use that input to fill this prompt's variables (take the main content, topic, or task from it; ask only if a required value is missing and not supplied), then follow the prompt exactly.

Write a system prompt for an AI agent.

Purpose: {purpose} Tools and constraints: {tools}

Cover, in order:

• Role and objective: who the agent is and what success looks like, in one or two sentences. Concrete, not "you are a helpful assistant".
• Capabilities and tools: what it can do, when to use each tool, and how to handle tool errors (retry, fall back, report). Reference tools by what they are for, not just their names.
• Boundaries: what it must NOT do, what requires confirmation, and how to handle requests outside its scope or that it cannot safely fulfill. Be explicit: agents follow the boundaries you write, not the ones you assumed.
• Method: how to approach the task (plan first, verify before acting on irreversible steps, when to ask versus proceed).
• Output format: exactly how to respond, and how to report completion or failure.

Rules: precise and unambiguous (an agent does exactly what the prompt says, including the gaps: vagueness becomes unpredictable behavior). Front-load the most important instructions (models weight the start heavily). State boundaries and safety as hard rules, not suggestions. Keep it lean: every instruction competes for attention, so cut what does not change behavior. If the purpose implies risks (irreversible actions, sensitive data), build in the guardrails explicitly.