docs: reconcile hidden internals with prose standard

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Tianyi Cui
2026-07-14 23:38:53 +08:00
parent d8c76d3f65
commit ed3654da00
3 changed files with 31 additions and 95 deletions

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@@ -24,21 +24,21 @@ The assembled system prompt had four defects, all of one family: facts the harne
### Prompt variables
Plugins contribute named values via `ctx.systemPrompt.variable(name, provider)`; prompt text references them as `{{name}}`. Providers are functions of the `AssembleContext` and may return `undefined` — "no value for THIS assembly". `assemble()` resolves every registered variable into `PromptAssembly.variables` (waterfall listeners can see, add, or override); `renderPrompt` interpolates. Rendering is STRICT — fail loud beats shipping a malformed prompt: a reference to an unregistered name throws (listing what exists; lookup is `Object.hasOwn`, so a prototype property like `{{constructor}}` is unknown, not a function spliced into the prompt), a registered-but-valueless reference throws, a complete `{{…}}` group that is not a well-formed name (`[a-z][a-z0-9_]*`, e.g. `{{ model }}`) throws, and a `{{` that opens no complete group while a `}}` still follows (`{{{model}}}`, `{{a{b}}`) throws. A lone `{{` with no `}}` anywhere after it is ordinary prose and passes through verbatim; substituted values are never re-scanned. Registration rejects duplicate and unreferenceable names, mirroring the tool registry — and `section()` now rejects duplicate section names, making the documented dedup real.
Plugins register `{{name}}` values through `ctx.systemPrompt.variable(name, provider)`. Assembly resolves them into the waterfall-visible variable map. Rendering rejects unknown own-property references, registered providers that return `undefined`, malformed complete references, and unbalanced references that still contain a closing `}}`; a lone unmatched `{{` remains prose, and substituted values are not rescanned. Registration rejects invalid or duplicate variable names, and section names are unique.
`dsh-agent-loop` registers the two built-ins, both pure projections of the context agent: `model` (= `options.model`) and `cwd` (= `session.header.cwd`). The example personas write `powered by the {{model}} model` — the model name is stated once, in the `model:` config key. `{{cwd}}` is demonstrated in the ACP example only: every ACP session carries the client's cwd, while config-pre-created stdio agents have none (a persona claiming `{{cwd}}` there fails the turn — by design). The variables stay on the loop plugin (unlike the sections below): they are runtime facts of the agents THIS loop drives, and a replacement loop supplies its own.
### Persona as the order-0 section
`dsh-system-prompt` itself registers the two harness-owned sections (they must survive a swapped loop plugin, so they do NOT live on `dsh-agent-loop`): the static `harness:identity` at order `-100` — every prompt opens by stating the agent is powered by the DeepSeek Harness SDK — and the global default `deployment:persona` at order 0, whose text is the plugin's own `persona` config. `AgentOptions.systemPrompt` and the loop's special-case join are gone: `fullSystemPrompt ≡ renderPrompt(assembly)`, one ordered pipeline for everything the model sees, and `agent/pre-step` (compaction's token-pressure input) measures exactly the real prompt. An agent-scoped section with the same `deployment:persona` name shadows the default for that agent; programmatic setup may register one directly, and the subagent persona feature installs one before publishing an in-process child when the selected provider supports it. Order bands are convention: harness identity `-100`, persona `0`, tool guidance `100199`; other negative orders also render before the persona.
`dsh-system-prompt` owns `harness:identity` at order `-100` and the configured `deployment:persona` at order 0, so both survive a replacement loop. Prompt rendering has one path, `renderPrompt(assembly)`, and `agent/pre-step` therefore measures the exact prompt used for compaction. An agent-scoped `deployment:persona` shadows the global default and lets subagent providers install a persona before publication. The conventional order bands are identity `-100`, persona `0`, and tool guidance `100199`.
### Tool guidance ownership
Per-tool semantics and when-to-use live in tool DESCRIPTIONS, which already ship in every request — the YAML prose was ~fully redundant with them. Sections carry only the cross-call habits a single call's description cannot: `dsh-tool-bash` contributes `tool:bash` (order 105) — check the `[exit code: N]` marker on every result; `dsh-tool-fs`'s read section gains the "not shell commands like cat" contrast. `todo_write` and the subagent tools need NO section their descriptions already carry the whole contract. The leaf personas shrink to identity + behavior (verify your work; keep answers brief), and the welcome banner stops enumerating tools.
Per-tool semantics and selection guidance live in tool descriptions. Prompt sections carry only cross-call habits, such as checking bash exit markers or preferring filesystem tools over shell commands. `todo_write` and subagent tools need no section because their descriptions contain the full contract. Deployment personas contain only role and behavior.
### The subagent conversation-history descriptor
`SubagentProvider` gains `readonly inheritsParentContext: boolean` — a DESCRIPTIVE conversation-history fact beside `capabilities`, not in it (capabilities are start-time validation; nothing validates against this flag). Spawn and ACP declare `false`, fork declares `true`. The name refers only to conversation seeding, not Cordis scope, services, tools, or authority. `dsh-tool-subagent` derives both the tool description and the `prompt` parameter description from the flag: the fork instance now tells the model the child is seeded with the conversation's completed turns (not the in-flight turn) and that its prompt should state only what is new. Deriving the description from a provider that arrives on its own fiber is what forced the provider-lifecycle events and the tool's reactive registration that mechanism, its Loader-concurrency rationale, and its rejected alternatives are recorded in [the provider-lifecycle-events RFC](2026-07-05-subagent-provider-lifecycle-events.md).
`SubagentProvider.inheritsParentContext` describes conversation seeding, not scope, services, tools, or authority. Spawn and ACP set it to `false`; fork sets it to `true`. `dsh-tool-subagent` derives its tool and prompt-parameter descriptions from the flag, including that fork inherits completed turns but not the in-flight turn. Provider lifecycle events keep that wording synchronized with reactive provider registration; their rationale lives in the [provider-lifecycle-events RFC](2026-07-05-subagent-provider-lifecycle-events.md).
## Alternatives considered
@@ -56,10 +56,10 @@ Per-tool semantics and when-to-use live in tool DESCRIPTIONS, which already ship
## Shipped invariants
- `renderPrompt(await assemble(assembleContextFor(agent)))` for the coding-agent example renders the harness identity, then the persona (with the agent's model name interpolated), then the fs/bash/web guidance sections; the loop has no other prompt-composition path.
- The `subagent_fork` schema description says the child inherits the conversation; the `subagent` one says it does not. The tool follows its provider: absent before the backend activates, present after, gone when the backend unloads, re-worded from the fresh provider on reload.
- Unknown/valueless/malformed/unbalanced `{{…}}` references throw with the section name in the message; duplicate section, variable, and tool-name registrations all throw.
- Snapshot goldens are prompt-independent by construction: llm-replay keys replay on (turn, step) chunk streams and never re-verifies the outgoing request.
- The coding-agent prompt renders identity, persona with the interpolated model, then fs/bash/web guidance through one assembly path.
- Fork and fresh subagent descriptions reflect whether the provider inherits completed conversation turns; the tool appears, disappears, and is reworded with provider lifecycle changes.
- Unknown, valueless, malformed, or unbalanced variable references name the section and throw; duplicate section, variable, and tool registrations also throw.
- Snapshot replay is prompt-independent: it keys recorded chunk streams by turn and step without comparing the outgoing request.
## Consequences