How a prompt is interpreted
- The agent reads your request plus context it already has (specialty, rules, knowledge, available tools).
- It forms a plan: the sequence of steps it believes will satisfy your request.
- It executes each step via tools (shell, CLI, MCP).
- It observes results and adjusts.
- It reports what it did, what it found, and whether it succeeded.
Anatomy of a good prompt
A strong prompt answers four questions. You do not have to answer all four every time — the more you cover, the better the result.Core principles
Be specific about the target
State the outcome, not just the symptom
Set boundaries explicitly
There is a meaningful difference between investigate and fix.@2501:investigate. You can always follow up with a remediation task after reviewing.
Include relevant context
The agent knows the system it is connected to, but not what happened in your incident channel five minutes ago. Share recent events, deployments, the exact error message — but don’t pad. One clear paragraph beats five vague ones.Do / don’t
Do
- Name the host, service, or environment in every prompt
- State investigate-only vs remediate explicitly
- Include error messages, log snippets, recent context
- Start narrow — easier to expand scope than undo a broad action
Don't
- Assume the agent knows what you know
- Use internal shorthand without explanation (“fix the P1”)
- Bundle unrelated things in one prompt
- Write a novel — detailed is good, padded is not