Prompts Primitive: Reusable, User/Developer-Controlled Templates
~12 min read
Prompts are predefined templates or multi-turn workflows the server can supply, letting a host reuse sophisticated prompt patterns without hardcoding them — usually selected by a user or developer, not decided spontaneously by the model.
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Key points
- •Prompts are predefined templates or multi-turn workflows the server supplies, avoiding re-hardcoding recurring prompt patterns in every host
- •Can represent full multi-turn workflows (e.g. a step-by-step diagnostic interview), not just a single system message
- •Usually user-controlled or developer-controlled, unlike tools (model-initiated) — the model doesn't spontaneously decide to use a prompt
- •Prompts set the stage BEFORE generation starts, typically fetched at the beginning of an interaction or when a user picks a specific mode
- •A prompt template returns pre-structured messages (e.g. system + user roles) that the host completes with real content and sends to the LLM