Prompting AI Agents

Last updated February 24, 2026

AI agents work best when you give them clear, structured instructions. Here are battle-tested prompts you can copy and adapt for your own workflows.

Creating a new board

Don’t just say “make a board.” Tell the agent what the board is for and how you want it structured.

Good prompt

Create a new board called sprint-12.md with columns: Backlog, In Progress, Review, Done. Add these tasks to Backlog: “Implement user search API”, “Fix login redirect bug”, “Update onboarding copy”. Assign the API task to @charlie with #backend priority:high est:6h, the bug to @alice with #bug priority:high, and the copy task to @bob with #frontend priority:low.

The key is specificity. Include column names, task titles, and metadata all in one prompt so the agent doesn’t have to ask follow-up questions.

More board creation prompts

Create a personal task board called `todo.md` with columns:
Today, This Week, and Someday. Add 3 placeholder tasks to each.

Set up a bug tracker board `bugs.md`. Columns: Reported, Triaging,
Fixing, Verifying, Closed. No tasks yet — I'll add those manually.

Adding tasks to existing boards

When adding tasks, always mention which board and which column:

Add a new task to the In Progress column of sprint-12.md:
"Refactor auth middleware" @charlie #backend priority:medium est:3h due:friday

Need to add multiple tasks at once? Batch them:

Add these tasks to the Backlog column of sprint-12.md:
- "Add rate limiting to API" @alice #backend priority:high est:4h
- "Write integration tests for search" @bob #testing est:6h
- "Update API documentation" @charlie #docs priority:low est:2h

Moving and updating tasks

In sprint-12.md, move "Implement user search API" from In Progress to Review.

Update the task "Fix login redirect bug" in sprint-12.md:
change priority to medium and set due:next-wednesday.

Mark all tasks in the Review column of sprint-12.md as done
and move them to the Done column.

Getting status updates

This is where agents really shine. Ask them to summarize your boards:

Look at sprint-12.md and give me a status update. How many tasks
are in each column? Are any high-priority items blocked? What's
overdue?

Across all my boards, find every task assigned to @alice that's
priority:high. List them with their current column and due date.

Compare sprint-11.md and sprint-12.md. How much did we carry over?
What's our velocity looking like?

Daily standup automation

Set up a recurring prompt pattern for your daily standup:

Run my daily standup check:
1. What moved to Done yesterday?
2. What's In Progress right now and who owns it?
3. Are any tasks past their due date?
4. Summarize in 3-4 bullet points I can paste into Slack.

Pro tip

Save your best prompts as templates. Most AI agents support saved instructions or system prompts — put your standup check there so you can trigger it with a single command every morning.

Triage incoming work

When new requests come in, let the agent sort them:

I have a new feature request: "Users want to export boards as PDF."
Add it to the Backlog of product-roadmap.md with #feature priority:medium.
If there are more than 10 items in Backlog, suggest which ones to
deprioritize.

Common mistakes to avoid

Be specific about which board

Saying “add a task” without specifying the board will confuse the agent if you have multiple .md files. Always name the board file.

Don't forget metadata

A task without metadata is hard to filter and track. Always include at least an assignee and priority when creating tasks.