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Prompts

Prompts are user-driven templates that provide shortcuts and working examples for AI interactions. They help users get started quickly without figuring out the right way to phrase requests.

How Prompts Work

Prompts can be consumed in two ways, depending on how the client is built:
Client Implementation Matters: Whether prompts are user-invoked or agent-selected depends entirely on how the client application is developed. Some clients expose prompts as slash commands, others let the AI agent discover and use them automatically.

When to Use Prompts

  • Provide examples of how to use your MCP server effectively
  • Create shortcuts for common workflows users perform repeatedly
  • Include dynamic context that would be tedious to type manually
  • Onboard new users with working examples they can invoke immediately

Basic Prompt

Prompt with Arguments

Multi-message Prompt

Set up a conversation with context:

Specialized Prompts

The Three MCP Primitives

Understanding when to use each:

Next Steps

Tools

Create actions AI can execute

Resources

Expose data to AI agents