canned-prompts/reference/README.md

# canned-prompts reference CLI

This is intentionally a **small reference implementation**, not the intended final architecture.

It demonstrates seven verbs:

```text
add      PATH
search   QUERY
show     ID
resolve  ID --set key=value
render   ID --set key=value
install  ID [--version VERSION]
publish  PATH
```

The implementation uses a local catalog plus a filesystem registry and performs no model calls.

`resolve` and `render` are separate because the specification separates them
(§ 5.1): resolution decides each value and may be non-deterministic, rendering
substitutes and always is. `resolve` prints where every value came from —
supplied, default, or fallback — before any prompt is produced.

## Stores

Default locations:

```text
~/.canned-prompts/catalog
~/.canned-prompts/registry
```

A **registry** stores packages flat, because an id is unambiguous within one
registry:

```text
<registry>/<id path>/<version>/...
```

A **catalog** is namespaced by registry, because identity is registry-scoped
(§ 3.2) and the same id may be installed from more than one place:

```text
<catalog>/<registry name>/<id path>/<version>/...
```

For example:

```text
~/.canned-prompts/catalog/house/practice/pqrst-estimate/0.1.0/
~/.canned-prompts/catalog/local/practice/pqrst-estimate/0.1.0/
```

A registry's name comes from its optional `registry.yaml`, and otherwise from
its directory basename. `add` takes a package from a path rather than a
registry, so it files it under `local` (override with `--as`).

Commands that take an ID accept a bare id or a qualified `<registry>:<id>`.
A bare id installed from more than one registry is reported as ambiguous
rather than resolved by guessing.

## Design choices

- YAML manifest via PyYAML.
- `{{ name }}` template substitution only.
- No arbitrary expression/code execution.
- Published versions are immutable by default.
- `install` copies from registry to catalog.
- `add` copies a package directly to catalog.
- `search`, `show`, `resolve`, and `render` operate on catalog packages, and
  print qualified `<registry>:<id>` references.
- An optional `registry.yaml` names a registry and records namespace claims.
  `publish` warns when a namespace is declared `closed` — it cannot
  authenticate a publisher, and says so rather than implying it checked.
- Static input defaults are applied; **derived** defaults (§ 6.1) are not. This
  tool never calls a model, so a derived default is satisfied only by its
  static fallback `value`. Without one, `resolve` reports the input as
  unresolved and `render` refuses rather than substituting empty text.

Use this implementation to challenge the format. Replace it once real usage reveals the right architecture.