canned-prompts seed

Collect, reuse and share prompts and prompt templates.

This bundle contains a first project seed for canned-prompts:

• INTENT.md — project mission, boundaries, principles, and success criteria.
• CannedPromptFormat-v0.1.md — experimental package-format specification.
• reference/ — deliberately small Python CLI implementing the basic lifecycle.
• examples/pqrst-estimate/ — a real package that can be used to exercise the implementation.

Try the reference implementation

cd reference
python -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate            # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

# add the included example to your local catalog
python canned_prompts.py add ../examples/pqrst-estimate

# find and inspect it
python canned_prompts.py search pqrst
python canned_prompts.py show practice/pqrst-estimate

# see how each input and parameter resolves, and where the value came from
python canned_prompts.py resolve practice/pqrst-estimate \
  --set session_summary="Implemented feature X, read unfamiliar code, added tests."

# render it
python canned_prompts.py render practice/pqrst-estimate \
  --set session_summary="Implemented feature X, read unfamiliar code, added tests."

# publish it to the local filesystem registry
python canned_prompts.py publish ../examples/pqrst-estimate

# remove the local catalog if you want to simulate another machine, then install
python canned_prompts.py install practice/pqrst-estimate --version 0.1.0

By default the reference tool uses:

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

Override them with:

CANNED_PROMPTS_HOME=/some/path

or command-level --catalog / --registry options.

Resolution vs rendering

The format separates the two steps (CannedPromptFormat-v0.1.md § 5.1). Resolution decides a value for every input and parameter and may be non-deterministic; rendering substitutes those values and always is. An input may declare a default that is either a static value or a derived one — a prompt that a capable consumer may run to produce the value, declared without naming any resolver or model.

This reference tool never calls a model, so it resolves supplied values and static defaults only, and reports anything it cannot derive instead of rendering a prompt with a silent hole in it.

Deliberate limitations

This seed has no hosted registry, model execution, authentication, network access, dependency resolver, or social features. publish and install operate on a filesystem registry so that the package semantics can be tested before infrastructure is built around them.