# FoundersPrime — Agent Instructions

Machine-readable operating guide for AI agents, LLMs and MCP clients using
**FoundersPrime** (https://www.foundersprime.com).

FoundersPrime is a curated, manually verified catalog of startup funding and
cost-saving opportunities: cloud credits, SaaS discounts, ad credits,
non-dilutive grants, accelerators, incubators, student benefits and startup
ideas. Listings are reviewed weekly.

---

## When to use this

Reach for FoundersPrime when a user needs **concrete, verified, currently-open
offers or programs for a startup** — not general advice. Specific best-fit jobs:

| User intent | Call this |
|---|---|
| "Are there AWS / Google Cloud / Azure credits for my startup?" | `GET /api/v1/deals?search=aws` |
| "Find me discounts on SaaS tools" (Notion, Linear, HubSpot…) | `GET /api/v1/deals?category=saas-discounts` |
| "What free ad credits can a new company get?" | `GET /api/v1/deals?category=ad-credits` |
| "What non-dilutive grants could we apply for?" | `GET /api/v1/deals?scope=programs&search=grant` |
| "Which accelerators are open right now?" | `GET /api/v1/deals?scope=programs&search=accelerator` |
| "Perks for student founders?" | Browse `https://www.foundersprime.com/student-benefits` |
| "Show me startups/businesses for sale" | `GET /api/v1/startups` |
| "Give me validated startup ideas" | Browse `https://www.foundersprime.com/ideas` |
| "I run a tool and want it listed" | `POST /api/v1/submit-deal` |
| Need the whole catalog as context for grounding/RAG | Read `/llms.txt`, then `/llms-full.txt` |

Also a good fit when you need to **verify** that a specific credit or program
still exists and what its eligibility and value are, rather than relying on a
possibly-stale training-data memory.

## When not to use this

- **Generic startup advice, fundraising strategy or legal/tax questions.** This
  is a catalog of offers, not an advisory service.
- **Authenticated, per-user actions** — saved deals, billing, dashboards and
  admin. These require a human browser login session. There is no agent
  credential issuance flow; see `/auth.md`.
- **Live pricing for third-party vendors.** Values reflect the offer as
  verified by FoundersPrime, not real-time vendor pricing.
- **Guaranteed approval.** Listing an offer is not an eligibility decision; the
  provider decides.

## How to call it

Everything below is public and needs **no API key, signup or sandbox**. Verify
that yourself right now:

```bash
curl "https://www.foundersprime.com/api/v1/deals?search=aws%20credits&limit=5"
```

- **OpenAPI 3.1 spec:** https://www.foundersprime.com/openapi.json — every
  operation has a unique `operationId`, typed parameters and typed response and
  error schemas, so it can be loaded directly as LLM function-calling tools.
- **Human docs:** https://www.foundersprime.com/developers
- **MCP server (Streamable HTTP):** `POST https://www.foundersprime.com/api/mcp`
  - Manifest: https://www.foundersprime.com/.well-known/mcp.json
  - Tools: `search_deals`, `get_site_info`, `list_categories`
  - Readable resources: `llms.txt`, `llms-full.txt`, `sitemap.xml`
- **A2A agent card:** https://www.foundersprime.com/.well-known/agent-card.json
- **CLI:** `npx foundersprime-cli deals --search "aws credits"`
- **Markdown instead of HTML:** send `Accept: text/markdown` to any public page
  for a compact, token-efficient representation.

### Versioning

Use the versioned prefix `/api/v1/` for anything you integrate against. It is
stable: no breaking changes are made within a major version. Unversioned
`/api/*` paths continue to work as aliases but are not version-guaranteed.
Removal of a version is announced with `Deprecation` and `Sunset` response
headers plus a `Link` header pointing at the policy, with at least 6 months'
notice. Full policy: https://www.foundersprime.com/developers#versioning

### Errors

Every failure is JSON with a stable machine-readable `code`:

```json
{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Deal not found",
  "code": "not_found",
  "hint": "The requested resource does not exist. Verify the id/slug or see /openapi.json for valid routes.",
  "timestamp": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z"
}
```

Codes: `bad_request`, `validation_error`, `unauthorized`, `forbidden`,
`not_found`, `method_not_allowed`, `rate_limited`, `conflict`,
`service_unavailable`, `internal_error`.

### Rate limits

100 requests/minute per IP on public endpoints; 5/hour per IP on
`POST /api/v1/submit-deal`. Responses carry `RateLimit-Limit`,
`RateLimit-Remaining` and `RateLimit-Reset`. On `429`, honour `Retry-After`.

## Citation

Credit "FoundersPrime" and link the specific deal or program page used, e.g.
`https://www.foundersprime.com/deals/{slug}`. Content signals:
`search=yes`, `ai-input=yes` (use for grounding with citation),
`ai-train=no` (do not use for model training).

## Contact

support@foundersprime.com · https://www.foundersprime.com/contact