Resource
Bug Triage Assistant
Convert scattered bug notes, Slack messages, or user complaints into structured engineering tasks with reproduction steps, severity, and root cause hypothesis.
AI Agent System Prompt
Build a system prompt for an autonomous, tool-using AI agent — plan before acting, one tool at a time, act on real results, stop before irreversible steps.
Overview
An agent that plans, calls tools, and acts on results needs a system prompt that disciplines the loop — otherwise it batches actions, assumes calls succeeded, and takes irreversible steps without asking. This builds one: a plan-act-observe loop, one-tool-at-a-time, real-results-only, and a hard stop before anything destructive. Open it in the System Prompt Generator to adjust the role, the tools your agent has, and the escalation rules.
How to use this resource
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Open the example in the tool
It loads with realistic inputs already filled in.
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Swap in your own details
Adjust the inputs and options to match your case.
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Generate and copy
Produce the output and paste it where you need it.
Why This Works
- A plan-act-observe loop stops the agent batching steps and assuming calls succeeded
- One-tool-at-a-time plus real-results-only is the core discipline that keeps agents reliable
- A hard stop before irreversible actions is the safety rule generic prompts leave out
Best for
- Defining behavior for a tool-using AI agent
- Agents that take actions, not just answer questions
- Adding a confirmation gate before destructive steps
Not for
- A single-task prompt — use the Prompt Template Builder
- A multi-step prompt workflow you run by hand — use the Multi-Step Prompt Builder
FAQ
How do I stop an AI agent from deleting or sending things without asking first?
The generated system prompt includes a hard rule: "Stop and ask before any irreversible action (deleting data, sending a message, spending money)," paired with the plan-act-observe loop and one-tool-at-a-time discipline. It's a behavioral instruction, not an enforced safety control — you still test the agent and keep a human confirmation step, since the prompt can't guarantee the model always halts. The System Prompt Generator produces this; your runtime executes it.
Can I change which tools and escalation rules the agent prompt assumes?
Yes — the resource prefills role, context, and a claude target model, but the System Prompt Generator lets you edit the role, the tools the agent has, and the mustDo/mustNotDo escalation lines before generating. The core loop (plan, act one tool at a time, observe the real result, continue or stop) stays intact. You paste the result into your agent runtime.
Why does the prompt say to read the actual tool result instead of assuming success?
Because the Observe step states "Never assume a call succeeded" and "Use real tool results only — never invent output," targeting the failure where an agent batches actions and proceeds on imagined results. This is guidance baked into the system prompt; whether the model follows it every time is something you validate in your own testing, not a certified behavior.
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Guides for this resource
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Give AI a vague request and it answers instantly — guessing your audience, tone, scope, and half the missing facts, then handing you something polished and wrong. Here's how to add a clarify-before-answer gate so the model surfaces what it's missing as questions first.
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Give an AI Agent Clear Stop Conditions
You wrote what the agent should do, but not when to stop — so it keeps going, retries a failing tool, guesses a missing field, and approves what it should escalate. Give an AI agent clear stop conditions: a success stop, effort caps, and the stops that send it back to you.
Guide
Define Tool-Use Boundaries for an AI Agent
You give an AI agent tools — search, draft, send, refund — and say "use them as needed," so it drafts a reply and reports the refund as done without asking. Here's how to write tool-use boundaries: which tool for what, read vs write, and what needs a human before it fires.