Add Persona

Add a Persona

Creates reusable, composable system prompt definitions with template variables and a global registry.

Before Starting

Ask the user for:

• Persona name (lowercase_with_underscores, used as registry key)
• Purpose — what the persona should do (extract data, analyze, summarize, etc.)
• System prompt — the core instruction text
• Template variables — any {{variable}} placeholders and their defaults
• Constraints — rules the persona must follow
• Model hint — suggested model string (optional, e.g. "openai/gpt-4o")
• Settings — default driver options (optional, e.g. {"temperature": 0.0})

Key Concepts

Persona Dataclass (frozen/immutable)

from prompture.persona import Persona

persona = Persona(
    name="invoice_extractor",
    system_prompt=(
        "You are a financial document processor. "
        "Extract invoice data from the provided text and return structured JSON. "
        "Use {{currency}} as the default currency when not specified."
    ),
    description="Invoice data extraction with configurable currency.",
    traits=("precise_output",),          # Trait names from trait registry
    variables={"currency": "USD"},       # Default template variable values
    constraints=[                        # Appended as ## Constraints section
        "Output ONLY valid JSON.",
        "Use null for unknown values.",
        "Amounts must be numeric, not strings.",
    ],
    model_hint="openai/gpt-4o-mini",     # Suggested model
    settings={"temperature": 0.0},       # Default driver options
)

Persona Fields

Template Variables

Placeholders use {{variable}} syntax. Built-in variables are always available:

Custom variables are set via variables dict or at render time:

rendered = persona.render(currency="EUR", max_items="10")

Variable precedence (highest wins):

1. kwargs passed to render()
2. self.variables (defaults)
3. Built-in template variables

Rendering

prompt = persona.render()                          # Uses defaults
prompt = persona.render(currency="EUR")            # Override variable
prompt = persona.render(custom_var="custom_value") # Additional variable

Composition

Personas are immutable. Composition returns new instances:

# Extend — append additional instructions
specialized = persona.extend("Focus specifically on line items and tax calculations.")

# Add constraints
stricter = persona.with_constraints([
    "All dates must be in ISO 8601 format.",
    "Round amounts to 2 decimal places.",
])

# Merge two personas with + operator
# Right-side values win on variable/settings conflicts
combined = base_persona + domain_persona
# Result: name="base+domain", prompts concatenated, constraints merged,
#         variables merged (right wins), traits deduped

Trait Registry

Reusable prompt fragments that can be shared across personas:

from prompture.persona import register_trait, get_trait, get_trait_names

# Register traits
register_trait("precise_output", "Always output precisely formatted data with no extraneous text.")
register_trait("multilingual", "Support input in any language. Always respond in {{output_language}}.")

# Use in persona
persona = Persona(
    name="my_persona",
    system_prompt="...",
    traits=("precise_output", "multilingual"),
    variables={"output_language": "English"},
)
# Traits are resolved and appended during render()

Global Persona Registry

from prompture.persona import (
    register_persona, get_persona, get_persona_names,
    clear_persona_registry, reset_persona_registry,
    PERSONAS,  # Dict-like proxy
)

# Register
register_persona(persona)

# Retrieve
p = get_persona("invoice_extractor")       # Returns Persona or None
p = PERSONAS["invoice_extractor"]          # Returns Persona or raises KeyError

# List
names = get_persona_names()                # ["json_extractor", "data_analyst", ...]

# Dict-like access via PERSONAS proxy
PERSONAS["my_persona"] = persona           # Register
del PERSONAS["my_persona"]                 # Unregister
"my_persona" in PERSONAS                   # Check existence
len(PERSONAS)                              # Count

# Reset to built-in only
reset_persona_registry()

Built-in Personas

5 personas are registered on import:

Serialization

# JSON
persona.save_json("personas/invoice_extractor.json")
loaded = Persona.load_json("personas/invoice_extractor.json")

# YAML (requires pyyaml)
persona.save_yaml("personas/invoice_extractor.yaml")
loaded = Persona.load_yaml("personas/invoice_extractor.yaml")

# Dict round-trip
d = persona.to_dict()      # {"version": 1, "name": ..., "system_prompt": ..., ...}
p = Persona.from_dict(d)

# Bulk load from directory (registers all loaded personas)
from prompture.persona import load_personas_from_directory
personas = load_personas_from_directory("personas/")

Conversation Integration

from prompture import Conversation

conv = Conversation(
    driver=driver,
    system_prompt=persona.render(),
    options=persona.settings,
)
result = conv.ask("Extract data from this invoice: ...")

Or use model_hint to select the driver:

from prompture.drivers import get_driver_for_model

if persona.model_hint:
    driver = get_driver_for_model(persona.model_hint)

Implementation Steps

1. Define the persona

Create in the appropriate module or a personas directory:

from prompture.persona import Persona, register_persona

my_persona = Persona(
    name="my_persona",
    system_prompt="...",
    description="...",
    constraints=["..."],
    settings={"temperature": 0.0},
)
register_persona(my_persona)

2. Add traits if needed

from prompture.persona import register_trait

register_trait("my_trait", "Trait text with {{variables}}.")

3. Write tests

def test_persona_render():
    p = Persona(name="test", system_prompt="Hello {{name}}")
    assert "Hello World" == p.render(name="World")

def test_persona_constraints():
    p = Persona(name="test", system_prompt="Base", constraints=["Rule 1"])
    rendered = p.render()
    assert "## Constraints" in rendered
    assert "Rule 1" in rendered

def test_persona_composition():
    a = Persona(name="a", system_prompt="A")
    b = Persona(name="b", system_prompt="B")
    c = a + b
    assert c.name == "a+b"
    assert "A" in c.render()
    assert "B" in c.render()

Best Practices

• Use template variables for anything that might change between uses (language, limits, format preferences)
• Keep system prompts focused — one clear role per persona
• Use constraints for rules — they're appended as a structured section, easy to compose
• Use traits for shared fragments — DRY across personas (e.g., "output JSON only" trait)
• Set temperature: 0.0 for extraction personas — deterministic output is preferred
• Use model_hint to suggest the best model for the persona's task
• Serialize to YAML for human-editable persona libraries
• Use load_personas_from_directory() to load persona libraries at startup

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