# MCP design prompts that work with Gradiently

[Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/mcp-prompts-for-design)

Once Gradiently is connected to your AI assistant, the quality of what comes back depends on how you ask. These are prompts you can copy, grouped by job, with the habits that make them land first time.

## The short version

- A good design prompt for Gradiently names the format, the words, the brand or Mark, and where the design will be used.
- Once Gradiently is connected over MCP, an assistant can search Marks, read your workspace and create designs that open in your Studio.
- Designs your connected assistant lays out itself do not spend Gradiently AI credits.
- Asking for one design first and then a set of sizes from it gives more consistent results than asking for everything at once.
- A connected assistant can only do what its API key allows, and only owners and admins can create keys.

Good **MCP design prompts** for Gradiently name four things: the format, the words, the brand or Mark the design should wear, and where it will be posted. Once Gradiently is connected to ChatGPT, Claude or any assistant that supports remote MCP servers, a request like “Make a portrait Instagram post for Crumb Café, headline Sourdough is back” comes back as a real design that opens in your Studio, ready to edit or export. Below are prompts you can copy, grouped by job, and the habits that make them work.

## What a connected assistant can reach

Prompts only work for things the connection allows. An owner or admin creates a scoped API key in **Settings › API and agents**, ticks the permissions it needs and adds it to the assistant; [connecting an AI assistant](https://gradiently.design/guide/connect-ai-assistant) walks through it, and [what MCP is](https://gradiently.design/guide/what-is-mcp) explains the protocol in plain words. After that, these are the jobs you can ask for.

| Job | What you can ask for | Permission on the key |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Find | Search Marks by name, colour words or code | Search Marks |
| Read | See the workspace, its brands and their profiles | Read the workspace |
| Make | New designs that open in your Studio | Create and edit designs |
| Change | Edit a design, or save copies in other sizes | Read designs, plus Create and edit designs |

If a prompt fails with a permission message, the key is missing a tick, not the assistant misunderstanding you.

## The shape of a design prompt that works

Assistants are good at filling gaps, which is exactly the problem: every gap you leave is a guess. Give the facts you care about and let it decide the rest. A useful order is format, brand, words, then one instruction about emphasis.

```text
Make a portrait Instagram post (1080×1350)
for the Crumb Café brand, on its primary Mark.
Headline: Sourdough is back.
Small line above: From Saturday
Detail: Baked at 7, gone by noon
Keep the headline short and high on the page.
```

A complete prompt. Every line answers a question the assistant would otherwise guess at.

### Leaves it guessing

- Make something for our bakery.
- A nice post about the new bread.
- Make it pop.
- Do all our socials for the launch.

### Gives it the facts

- Portrait Instagram post, 1080×1350, Crumb Café brand.
- Headline: Sourdough is back. Detail: from Saturday.
- Make the headline the largest thing on the page.
- One post first. Then a story and an X post from it.

Name the brand exactly as it appears in your brand switcher. The assistant reads that brand’s profile, so the voice, fonts and Mark come with it, and you don’t need to describe the look every time. If the profile is thin, [brand guidelines your AI assistant can follow](https://gradiently.design/guide/brand-guidelines-for-ai) shows what to put in it.

## Prompts for finding a Mark

Marks are the living backgrounds every Gradiently design wears. The Market search understands names, colour words such as “deep teal” and codes typed without dots, so the assistant can shortlist for you while you get on with the words.

```text
Find five dark Marks in deep teal and give me each one’s code,
with a line on why it would suit a calm accountancy brand.

Look up GR·K7Q2·MX and describe its colours, material and type voice.

Which Marks does our Harbour brand use, and which is its primary?

Compare three warm, light Marks for a café. Which keeps words
most readable on a portrait post?
```

Finding prompts. Ask for codes every time, so you can open each Mark in the Market and look for yourself.

> **Claiming stays with you** Anyone can design with a Mark nobody has claimed, so shortlisting and testing cost nothing. The Claim Marks permission is off by default on new keys; most people prefer to open the shortlist in the [Market](/market) and claim there. [How to find and claim a Mark](https://gradiently.design/guide/how-to-claim-a-mark) explains what claiming gives you.

## Prompts for making designs

Ask for one design at a time while you are learning how an assistant handles your brand. Give real sizes when the format matters; Gradiently knows every common platform size, so “Instagram story” or “A4 poster” is enough, but stating the pixels removes any doubt.

```text
Make an Instagram story for Crumb Café announcing late opening
on Fridays until 9pm. Keep the words in the middle of the frame.

Make an A4 poster (2480×3508) for our open studio on 14 November.
Headline first, then date, time and address in a smaller line.

Make a LinkedIn post (1200×1200) for Harbour Accounts:
“Your tax return, done by January.” Calm, no exclamation marks.

Start from a menu template and fill it with these six dishes and prices.
```

Making prompts. Notice that each one says where the design will live.

A portrait Instagram post reading Sourdough is back, with a small From Saturday line above and a detail line below, on a living gradient

What the complete prompt above produces: the headline high and large, the Mark making room behind the words.

You don’t need to ask for boxes, shadows or outlines behind the words. A Mark knows where the text sits: its calmest region moves behind it, and Auto ink picks light or dark type line by line. Asking for a plate behind the headline usually makes the design look worse. [Auto ink](https://gradiently.design/guide/auto-ink-legibility) explains how it works.

## Prompts for changing and resizing designs

Edits work best when they point at one thing. Refer to the design by what it says or when it was made, and name the change. Resizing saves new copies beside the original, which stays as it was.

```text
In yesterday’s Sourdough post, change the detail line to
“Baked at 7, gone by 11”.

Make the headline on the open studio poster one size smaller.

Take the Sourdough post and make an Instagram story,
an X post and a Facebook cover from it.

Switch the late opening story to our second Mark and keep everything else.
```

Change prompts. One change per line is easier to check than five changes in a paragraph.

Portrait post reading Sourdough is back

The original portrait post, 1080×1350.

The same Sourdough is back design as a tall Instagram story

The story copy, 1080×1920, laid out again for the taller frame.

## Prompts for a whole campaign

For a launch or a season, a short chain of prompts beats one enormous request. You check the first design, and everything after it inherits a look you have already approved.

1. **Give the brief** “We open a second shop in Leith on 3 December. Audience: locals who already know us. Tone: warm, plain.”
2. **Ask for the anchor design** “Make the main portrait post first. Headline: Leith, we’re coming.”
3. **Review it yourself** Open it in the Studio. Fix anything by hand or ask for one change at a time.
4. **Ask for the set** “Now make a story, a LinkedIn post and an A5 flyer from it, same words.”
5. **Ask for the follow-ups** “Make a countdown story for one week before, and an opening day post.”

If you work in Claude or ChatGPT every day, [designing with Claude](https://gradiently.design/guide/design-with-claude) and [designing with ChatGPT](https://gradiently.design/guide/design-with-chatgpt) cover each assistant’s quirks in more depth.

## Credits, and when the Designer gets involved

When your connected assistant lays out a design itself with Gradiently’s tools, it spends no Gradiently AI credits; the thinking happens on your assistant’s own plan. If you ask it to hand the job to Gradiently’s Designer instead, for example “ask the Gradiently Designer to make this”, that work is measured in credits, exactly as it would be in the Studio. [AI credits explained](https://gradiently.design/guide/ai-credits-explained) has the detail.

> **Keep a prompt file** Save the prompts that worked for your brand in a note. Next month’s menu post or event poster is then a copy, a paste and three new facts.

## FAQ

### What is a good prompt for designing with an AI assistant?

Name the format, the exact words, the brand or Mark, and where the design will be posted. Add one instruction about what should stand out, and leave the rest to the assistant.

### Do MCP design prompts spend Gradiently credits?

Not when your connected assistant lays out the design itself. Asking it to hand the job to Gradiently’s Designer is measured in credits, as in the Studio.

### Can I ask ChatGPT or Claude to find a gradient for my brand?

Yes. With the Search Marks permission, it can search the Market by name, colour words or code and give you a shortlist with codes you can open and check.

### Where do designs made by my assistant end up?

In the workspace that issued the API key. They open in your Studio like any other design, where your team can edit, comment on and export them.

### Why did my assistant say it isn’t allowed to do something?

The API key is missing that permission. An owner or admin can create a new key with the right permissions in Settings › API and agents.