prompt-versioninglisted

# Prompt Versioning ## The Law ``` A PROMPT WITHOUT A VERSION NUMBER CANNOT BE DEBUGGED, ROLLED BACK, OR IMPROVED. "It's tracked in git" is not versioning — the file has no history of intent. "I'll version it later" means you'll debug a production regression with no baseline. prompts/<feature>/v<x.y.z>.md with a CHANGELOG entry IS versioning. ``` ## When to Use Trigger whenever: - Writing a new system prompt or user prompt template - Modifying an existing prompt in any way (even a single word) - Switching between prompt variants in an experiment - Rolling back after a quality regression ## When NOT to Use - One-off manual queries not used in any automated pipeline - Prompts that exist only in a prototype that will be discarded ## Required Structure ``` prompts/ <feature-name>/ v1.0.0.md ← original version v1.1.0.md ← iteration (changed few-shots, added constraint) v2.0.0.md ← breaking change (new output schema) CHANGELOG.md ← what changed between versions and why ``` The `current` version is the highest version number. Never delete old versions — they are the rollback path. ## Version Numbering | Bump | When | Example | |---|---|---| | Patch (x.y.**Z**) | Whitespace, typo, minor wording — output distribution unchanged | "Please" → "please" | | Minor (x.**Y**.0) | New instruction, example, or constraint — output likely changes | Added 3 few-shot examples | | Major (**X**.0.0) | New output schema, restructured reasoning, dif