# General Prompting Guidelines

When working with MCP-enabled AI assistants to manage your DigitalOcean infrastructure, follow these best practices:

- **Be specific about the service**: Mention the specific DigitalOcean product to help the assistant use the right tools.
- **Include resource identifiers**: Provide IDs, names, or UUIDs when referring to existing resources.
- **Specify regions and sizes**: Always include region slugs (like `nyc3`, `sfo3`) and size slugs (like `s-1vcpu-1gb`) when creating resources.
- **Start simple, then iterate**: Begin with basic queries to verify information before making changes.
- **Request confirmation for destructive actions**: Ask the assistant to confirm before deleting or modifying critical resources.

The following example prompts map to the specific tools exposed by each product’s MCP server.

## App Platform

- “Show me all my apps in App Platform.”
- “Get deployment status for app `app-id`.”
- “Deploy this GitHub repository as an App Platform app.”

## Droplets

- “Create a new droplet named `web-server` with 1GB RAM in `NYC3`.”
- “Reboot droplet `droplet-id`.”
- “Create a snapshot of droplet `droplet-id` called `backup-2024-11`.”

## Kubernetes (DOKS)

- “List all my Kubernetes clusters.”
- “Create a new Kubernetes cluster named `production-k8s` in `nyc3`.”
- “Get the kubeconfig for cluster `cluster-id`.”

## Databases (DBaaS)

- “List all my database clusters.”
- “Create a PostgreSQL database called `production-db` in `nyc1`.”
- “Delete database cluster `cluster-id`.”

## Spaces

- “List all my Spaces access keys.”
- “Create a new Spaces access key named `backup-key`.”
- “Delete Spaces access key `access-key-id`.”

## Insights and Monitoring

- “List all my uptime checks.”
- “Create an uptime check for `https://example.com`.”
- “List all my alert policies.”

## Marketplace (1-Click Apps)

- “List all available 1-click apps for droplets.”
- “Show me Kubernetes 1-click applications.”
- “Install WordPress on my Kubernetes cluster `cluster-uuid`.”

## Account and Common

- “List all available DigitalOcean regions.”
- “Show me my account information.”
- “List my SSH keys.”

## Complex Multi-Step Prompts

For more complex infrastructure tasks, you can combine multiple operations in a single request:

- “Create a PostgreSQL database cluster named `production-db` in `nyc3` with 3 nodes, then create a user named `api-user` and show me the connection details.”
- “List all my droplets in `nyc3`, then create a snapshot of the one named `web-server`.”
- “Create a Kubernetes cluster called `staging-k8s` in `sfo3` with a node pool of 3 nodes, then install the nginx 1-click app.”
- “Show me the deployment status of my app, then if it’s unhealthy, trigger a new deployment.”

## Troubleshooting and Information Gathering

- “What’s the current resource usage for my app `app-name`?”
- “Why isn’t my uptime check `check-id` passing?”
- “Show me all failed deployments for app `app-id`.”
- “Which of my droplets have backups enabled?”
- “List all database clusters in the `nyc1` region.”

## Best Practices for Destructive Operations

When performing operations that delete or significantly modify resources, be explicit:

- **Good**: “Delete droplet `droplet-id` but show me its details first to confirm.”
- **Good**: “I want to delete my database cluster `production-db` - confirm this is cluster-id `cluster-id` before proceeding.”
- **Avoid**: “Clean up my old resources” (too vague).
- **Avoid**: “Delete everything” (dangerous and unclear).