Skip to content
KentKent
2026 Respawn OSS

Prompts

Learn how to customize system prompts, supervisor instructions, subagent system prompts, workflow prompts, and repo guidance.

Models will follow the instructions by role: system -> developer -> user, from most authoritative to least authoritative. With kent, you can customize all three levels:

Instruction Files

Section titled “Instruction Files”
  • ~/.kent/AGENTS.md is a global instructions file injected into every session automatically.
  • <workspace>/AGENTS.md adds instructions that are specific to the current project.

These files are developer-level instructions.

System Prompt

Section titled “System Prompt”

Kent selects one configured custom prompt through configuration precedence: global, shared workspace, then Main Workspace private settings. A selected role’s system_prompt_file replaces the inherited agent selection. Omission inherits the agent selection.

The selected file keeps its scope in this priority order, lowest to highest. Only one of the configured-file entries participates:

  • Built-in system prompt
  • ~/.kent/SYSTEM.md
  • ~/.kent/config.toml system_prompt_file
  • <workspace-root>/.kent/SYSTEM.md
  • Shared workspace or Main Workspace private system_prompt_file
  • Selected [subagents.<role>] system_prompt_file

Paths are resolved relative to the configuration file that supplies them unless absolute.

Kent snapshots the rendered system prompt when it creates the session contract. Edits take effect after successful compaction and the next model request.

Placeholders

Section titled “Placeholders”

You can assemble your own system prompt from building blocks provided by Kent. It’s highly recommended to leave the instructions about the harness (HarnessWorkflowAutonomy) intact.

System prompt files use Go template syntax with these fields:

  • {{.DefaultSystemPromptHarnessWorkflowAutonomy}} - important guidelines on harness behavior, environment constraints, available tools.
  • {{.DefaultSystemPromptPersonality}} - Kent agent identity, communication style, and engineering posture.
  • {{.DefaultSystemPromptAmbiguityAndOutputQuality}} - opinionated product ambiguity handling and implementation quality rules.
  • {{.DefaultSystemPromptFinalAnswerAndFormatting}} - final response, Markdown, and formatting rules suitable for TUI.
  • {{.DefaultSystemPrompt}} - full text of the built-in Kent system prompt.
  • {{.LaunchCommand}} - Kent executable command, e.g. path/to/kent.exe.
  • {{.EstimatedToolCallsForContext}} - estimated function/tool-call budget before compaction/handoff, exact number that varies with model context window, like 185.
  • {{.EditingToolName}} - name of the tool the agent uses to modify files, like edit or patch. Varies per model.

Example:

{{.DefaultSystemPromptPersonality}}


{{.DefaultSystemPromptHarnessWorkflowAutonomy}}


# Team Rules


Prefer small, reviewable commits.

Additionally, if tool_preambles = true in the config, another block of text is appended instructing the model to talk to you while working.

Supervisor System Prompt

Section titled “Supervisor System Prompt”

reviewer.system_prompt_file replaces Kent’s built-in supervisor system prompt:

  • ~/.kent/config.toml
  • <workspace-root>/.kent/config.toml
  • <main-workspace-root>/.kent/config.local.toml

Edits take effect for Supervisor requests after compaction.

Edit page