System prompt always just "COPILOT_INSTRUCTIONS" in "show info" (gc)

[liskin]

Presumably because the second config arg to resolve_prompt isn't passed at

CopilotChat.nvim/lua/CopilotChat/config/mappings.lua

Line 439 in d12f6df

local config, prompt = copilot.resolve_prompt(message.content)

And also because since 081d4c2, the default "COPILOT_INSTRUCTIONS" system_prompt

CopilotChat.nvim/lua/CopilotChat/config.lua

Line 56 in d12f6df

system_prompt = 'COPILOT_INSTRUCTIONS', -- System prompt to use (can be specified manually in prompt via /).

isn't expanded (resolved).

---

So this is basically 2 issues in one:

• not being able to see the actual system prompt used at some point of the conversation history
• 081d4c2 regressing the default system prompt

[liskin]

Unfortunately, simply changing

CopilotChat.nvim/lua/CopilotChat/config.lua

Line 56 in d12f6df

system_prompt = 'COPILOT_INSTRUCTIONS', -- System prompt to use (can be specified manually in prompt via /).

to

system_prompt = '{COPILOT_INSTRUCTIONS}',

isn't going to fix this, as

CopilotChat.nvim/lua/CopilotChat/init.lua

Lines 507 to 511 in d12f6df

	for name, prompt in pairs(prompts_to_use) do
	if prompt.system_prompt then
	config.system_prompt = config.system_prompt:gsub('{' .. name .. '}', prompt.system_prompt)
	end
	end

doesn't handle recursive expansion and the COPILOT_INSTRUCTIONS prompt config needs that. It might expand the {COPILOT_BASE} in there if prompts_to_use happens to be in the right order, but it often does not.

[liskin]

The fix only addresses the recursive expansion issue. This one is still a problem:

• not being able to see the actual system prompt used at some point of the conversation history

To reproduce, invoke :CopilotChatReview and then gc — you'll see the default system prompt, not the expanded COPILOT_REVIEW system prompt.

Do you want me to open another issue for that?

[deathbeam]

The fix only addresses the recursive expansion issue. This one is still a problem:

• not being able to see the actual system prompt used at some point of the conversation history

To reproduce, invoke :CopilotChatReview and then gc — you'll see the default system prompt, not the expanded COPILOT_REVIEW system prompt.

Do you want me to open another issue for that?

hmm yea its not remembered in sticky as it should be with default config, yes please open another one for that one

[deathbeam]

Should be fixed now @liskin . In the end i just got rid of the expansion logic, it was kinda confusing and not documented anyway and went back to original approach + auto append the "base" prompt

[liskin]

Should be fixed now @liskin . In the end i just got rid of the expansion logic, it was kinda confusing and not documented anyway and went back to original approach + auto append the "base" prompt

Hm, there's two issues with that:

1

The stickies disappear as soon as the prompt is sent.

> /SysSomething
> #gitdiff:staged

becomes just

##git://diff/staged

and then gc only works correctly on the new prompt, but not on the submitted message

2

It relies on the auto-sticky logic, so the following results in no sticky and never shows up in gc correctly:

		CommitRickyXXX = {
			system_prompt = "You are Ricky Gervais, a British stand-up comedian. You're known for your dark humor and observational comedy. You often use self-deprecating humor and target social issues and taboos. You are liked for your honesty and willingness to push boundaries.",
			sticky = '#gitdiff:staged',
			prompt = copilot_chat_prompts.Commit.prompt .. '\n'
				.. "Remember you're a comedian and make it funny and sarcastic.\n"
				.. 'Remember that "Why" is just as important as "What". Ask me questions to clarify context for some of the changes.',
		},

but that's probably fine because the following works:

		CommitRicky = {
			system_prompt = 'SysRicky',
			sticky = '#gitdiff:staged',
			prompt = copilot_chat_prompts.Commit.prompt .. '\n'
				.. "Remember you're a comedian and make it funny and sarcastic.\n"
				.. 'Remember that "Why" is just as important as "What". Ask me questions to clarify context for some of the changes.',
		},
		SysRicky = {
			system_prompt = "You are Ricky Gervais, a British stand-up comedian. You're known for your dark humor and observational comedy. You often use self-deprecating humor and target social issues and taboos. You are liked for your honesty and willingness to push boundaries.",
		},

---

That being said, the original problem of this issue (#1323) is addressed — there is some way to inspect what the system prompt will be 🙂. Just not a way to inspect what it was.

[deathbeam]

@liskin

Yea the issue is mostly tied to this, e.g if i want to have the chat buffer editable and synced with what is being sent it needs to contain the resolved messages and not the original ones without needing to actually resolve the history again when prompt is submitted:

#1300 (comment)

And as system prompt is not tied to any resource or anything and is just replaced every time with latest value then its not part of the actual chat history.

And direct system prompts without reference not working automatically is mostly result of stickies being only way to have persistent state for consistency (a while ago the config itself was also stored and remembered from last submitted prompt but this only caused issues) so not sure what would the best solution be here. maybe making the whole CommitRicky sticky automatically? But then the issue is it would also make the prompt sticky not just system prompt

[liskin]

not sure what would the best solution be here

Yeah if it's not easy/feasible to store separate metadata for the conversation, it's probably okay to consider this a known limitation rather than a bug to fix.

I don't have nearly enough experience with neovim scripting to know if it's impossible or not. You could probably do something like assign an (gu)id to each conversation item, put it in the User/Copilot header, conceal it, and then separately keep a dict of id → metadata, with metadata having all these bits of:

• what prompt triggered this
• what the system prompt actually used was
• what context/resources were requested, and what the actual value was
• etc.

I think the guid bit is already being done because if I open a really small window with neovim, the conceal glitches and shows a bit of it. Just need to associate more metadata with that guid?