Introduction
The ArcGIS agentic developer toolkit combines Esri developer agent skills, which provide ArcGIS-specific guidance, with an MCP server for developer documentation, which connects AI clients to official ArcGIS developer resources. Together, they help agents perform ArcGIS development tasks and support AI-assisted workflows.
Key components
The two components of the toolkit are:
- Esri developer agent skills: Reusable instructions that provide contextual guidance for agents to perform ArcGIS-specific development tasks. Learn more in Agent skills
- Esri MCP server for developer documentation: An Esri-hosted server that implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to connect AI clients to official ArcGIS developer documentation and resources. Learn more in MCP server.
AI-assisted workflow
The toolkit supports AI-assisted development with the guidance of agent skills and the MCP server .
As illustrated in the diagram below, the developer begins by communicating their goals, needs, and limitations to the agent through a prompt. The agent draws on agent skills to guide its planning and implementation, and uses the MCP server to access official ArcGIS developer documentation. The agent can generate application code directly within a development environment. Throughout the process, the developer remains in control by reviewing the agent’s response and refining instructions as needed until the solution meets their requirements.
Types of prompts
Prompts help you guide the agent throughout an AI-assisted development workflow. Depending on your goal, you can use prompts to find information, plan an approach, or implement a solution. Ensure you include all necessary details. Include relevant goals, requirements, and context so the agent can provide useful and relevant results.
Three common types of prompts are:
- Ask: Get answers, examples, or guidance for a specific development question or capability.
- Plan: Define requirements, explore options, and develop an implementation approach before making changes.
- Code: Build or modify an application by providing implementation instructions, requirements, and constraints.
Ask
Ask prompts can help you learn about ArcGIS capabilities, compare technologies, or evaluate options before application development starts. An answer can resolve a standalone question or provide important information to help you better prepare for development.
How to define
- Name the ArcGIS capability you want to explore, such as routing, mapping, geocoding, places, or bulk geocoding. If you are unsure which capability applies, describe what you want to accomplish instead.
- Ask the agent to compare relevant ArcGIS options and link to official documentation.
Template
I'm exploring [ArcGIS capability, such as routing, mapping, geocoding, places, or bulk geocoding, or a development goal]. Explain the ArcGIS options that support it, including relevant products, APIs, SDKs, or services.Plan
Plan prompts can help you turn a development goal into an implementation approach. Explore options and trade-offs, evaluate development and design options, and define requirements. Spend time planning a new application, a feature, a migration, or a fix before asking the agent to change files.
How to define
- Describe the required behavior, selected SDK or API, framework, existing project structure, and authentication requirements.
- Identify constraints and define what a successful result should look like.
- Ask the agent to clarify unresolved requirements and propose implementation and verification steps without changing files.
Template
Review the existing project, if applicable, and plan [the application, feature, migration, or fix] using [the selected ArcGIS products, SDKs, APIs, and application framework]. Define the scope, requirements, testable acceptance criteria, and verification steps. Flag assumptions and ask about gaps. Present the analysis for review. Do not change files or begin implementation until it is approved.Code
Code prompts can help you build a new application, add a feature to an existing application, migrate an application, update an application to new versions, or implement a universal code change. The agent can inspect, edit, and run code when your AI client provides those capabilities and you grant the necessary permissions.
How to define
- Make the project and approved plan available to the agent.
- Specify the change to implement, project conventions to follow, and checks to run.
- Use placeholders or your project’s secure configuration mechanism for credentials rather than including secrets in prompts.
Template
Implement the approved plan for [the application, feature, migration, or fix] in this project. Follow existing project conventions and applicable agent skills, and consult official documentation through the MCP server for the APIs and SDKs used. Run the available checks for [the key behaviors in the plan]. Report what changed, what was verified, and anything that still requires manual testing.Use cases
The toolkit’s tools and resources support a variety of use cases. Browse the use cases below to find prompts that match your development needs. Each example prompt is labeled Ask, Plan, or Code to indicate its purpose. Some use cases include multiple prompt types, which allow you to move from asking questions to planning and implementation as your needs evolve.
Explore technology
When you’re exploring a development idea or deciding how ArcGIS could support a task, use Ask prompts to learn about relevant capabilities and compare technologies. Follow with a Plan prompt when you want to turn that research into an approach.
Example prompts:
Build new applications
When you have an application idea and are ready to make it concrete, use Ask and Plan prompts to clarify requirements and select an ArcGIS approach. Then, use a Code prompt to build a starter implementation.
Example prompts:
- Build a starter mapping app for the web
- Build a starter mobile mapping app
- Build a geocoding command-line app
Improve existing applications
When you want to add functionality to an existing application or review it against best practices, use Plan prompts to define an improvement that follows them. Then, use Code prompts to implement the change.
Example prompts:
- Review an existing application
- Add address search to an existing mapping app
- Improve mapping and query performance in an app
Migrate applications
When an application needs to move to a newer ArcGIS version, a different technology, or another platform, use Plan prompts to check compatibility and plan the migration, then Code prompts to implement the migration.
Example prompts:
Troubleshoot applications
When an application behaves unexpectedly or performs poorly, use Ask prompts to investigate likely causes and supporting documentation. Then, use Plan to propose a solution.
Example prompts:
- Find why a feature layer will not load
- Diagnose an authentication or access failure
- Investigate edits or sync that do not complete
Deploy applications
When an application is approaching release, use Ask prompts to clarify requirements such as licensing. Then, use Plan prompts to prepare for deployment.
Example prompts: