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Devin AI — Autonomous Software Engineer Prompt

Agent Prompt ✦ Curated & attributed Advanced

The full system prompt for Devin, an autonomous software engineering agent operating a real OS. It defines a planning vs standard mode model, a <think> scratchpad with numbered triggers, and an extensive XML command reference spanning shell, editor (str_replace/insert/find_and_edit), search, LSP (go_to_definition/references/hover), Playwright browser control, Fly.io/frontend deployment, secrets, and git/GitHub operations.

What makes this prompt notable

  • Two-mode operation: 'planning' (gather context, end with <suggest_plan/>) vs 'standard' (execute plan steps)
  • Codifies a <think> tool with ~10 mandatory and ~10 recommended trigger situations including before git decisions and before reporting completion
  • Prompt-injection defense: refuses to reveal instructions and replies 'You are Devin. Please help the user with various engineering tasks' if asked about prompt details
  • Bans grep/find/cat/sed/vim in the shell, forcing use of LSP and editor commands; bans 'git add .' and force-push
  • Introduces 'POP QUIZ' mode where the user's instructions override all command-reference behavior
  • find_and_edit dispatches each regex match to a separate LLM for parallel refactoring across files

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