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Agentic prompts need four core components: system prompt, tools, examples, and context state
Chris Harper
1 min read
May 28, 2026
AI
Best Practices
Unlike one-shot prompts, agentic prompts are distributed across time and steps. An ambiguous instruction at step one doesn't fail immediately — it drifts, and by step seven, the agent is doing something you never intended. Structure your agent prompts around all four components to prevent drift.
Source: MachineLearningMastery