Core Concepts

Prompt Management revolves around two core objects: the prompt you author and the versions you save and promote.

Prompt

A prompt is the unit you author and ship. It has a human-readable name, a URL slug, template text, and test settings such as model and tools.

Example: a prompt named “Welcome Email” with slug welcome-email. One prompt per concept your application consumes.

Version

A version is an immutable snapshot of a prompt’s template text. Versions are numbered sequentially (v1, v2, v3, …) and recorded with the author and timestamp. You save a version when you want a stable point to promote, compare against, or roll back to.

A version freezes the template — nothing else

Saving a version stores only the template text. If you test “v2” today and test “v2” again later, you will get v2’s template but whatever settings are current at execution time.

Backing managed variable

Every prompt is backed by a managed variable. That backing variable is what your application fetches, and it is where labels, targeting, and rollout rules live.

The backing variable name is derived from the prompt slug:

prompt__<slug_with_underscores>

For example, a prompt with slug welcome-email has the backing variable prompt__welcome_email.

Use Prompt Management to author the prompt and save versions. Use Managed Variables to promote a version by moving labels such as production, canary, or staging, or to configure rollout and targeting rules.

The backing variable is system-managed

Names starting with prompt__ are reserved for Prompt Management. Create and rename prompts from the Prompts page rather than creating prompt__... variables directly.

Fragments and references

Prompts can compose reusable fragments with @{...}@ references. A prompt can reference a regular managed variable:

@{support_safety_rules}@

It can also reference another prompt through that prompt’s backing variable:

@{prompt__support_style}@

Use composition for shared configuration that should have its own owner, version history, or rollout. Use {{...}} template parameters for per-request inputs.

For prompt testing workflows, see Test Prompts.

Identifiers you will see

Prompts carry two identifiers that matter in normal use.

Identifier	Example	Where you see it
Display name	Welcome Email	Prompts list, page titles, search
Slug	welcome-email	URL path (/prompts/welcome-email/)

Slug rules

Slugs must be 1–100 characters, lowercase letters and digits only, hyphens allowed.