probo / rules

---
description: Agent prompt template structure (role/task/instructions XML style)
globs: "**/prompts/**/*.tmpl"
alwaysApply: false
---

# Agent prompt style

See full guide: `contrib/claude/prompt-style.md`

Agent prompt templates use an XML-tag structure with three top-level sections,
in this order:

```
<role>
One short paragraph: who the agent is and its single objective.
</role>

<task>
What the agent is given and the fields it must return. Describe the structured
output here as a bullet list (one bullet per field).
</task>

<instructions>
1. A numbered list of directives, most important first.
2. ...
</instructions>
```

## Rules

- Always use the three sections `<role>`, `<task>`, `<instructions>` in that order.
- `<instructions>` is an ordered (numbered) list; put the most decisive rule first.
- Keep `<role>` to one short paragraph stating the objective.
- Describe every output field in `<task>` as a bullet, mirroring the typed result struct.
- Never hardcode enum values or source-of-truth lists; use a `{{.Placeholder}}`
  and substitute at runtime (see `template-files.mdc`).
- No commentary outside the tags; the prompt body is the system instruction.

## Examples

- `pkg/thirdparty/prompts/disambiguation.txt.tmpl`
- `pkg/cookiebanner/prompts/tracker_identification.txt.tmpl`
- `pkg/thirdparty/prompts/common_third_party_company_profile.txt.tmpl`

More agent context in getprobo/probo

29 other files this repository gives its agents.