A high-priority instruction that sets the model's role, tone and constraints for the whole conversation.
1 min readupdated 2026-06-22
/ quick answer
The system prompt sits above user turns and defines the agent's identity, capabilities and hard rules. Well-designed system prompts encode role, output format, refusal policy and available tools. A high-priority instruction that sets the model's role, tone and constraints for the whole conversation.
A high-priority instruction that sets the model's role, tone and constraints for the whole conversation. The system prompt sits above user turns and defines the agent's identity, capabilities and hard rules. Well-designed system prompts encode role, output format, refusal policy and available tools. In practice: 'You are a senior finance analyst. Respond only in Markdown tables. Never quote figures older than 12 months. If unsure, say so.'. This dictionary node is part of the Onexial knowledge graph and links to related concepts, workflows and tools below.
Definition
The system prompt sits above user turns and defines the agent's identity, capabilities and hard rules. Well-designed system prompts encode role, output format, refusal policy and available tools.
Example
'You are a senior finance analyst. Respond only in Markdown tables. Never quote figures older than 12 months. If unsure, say so.'
The system prompt sits above user turns and defines the agent's identity, capabilities and hard rules. Well-designed system prompts encode role, output format, refusal policy and available tools.
What is an example of System Prompt?
'You are a senior finance analyst. Respond only in Markdown tables. Never quote figures older than 12 months. If unsure, say so.'.
Why does System Prompt matter for AI and automation?
A high-priority instruction that sets the model's role, tone and constraints for the whole conversation. It connects to the workflows, prompts and tool stacks linked on this page, so you can move from definition to execution without leaving Onexial.