manual_slop/conductor/tracks/system_context_exposure_20260322/spec.md

Specification: System Context Exposure

1. Overview

This track exposes the hidden system prompt from ai_client.py to users for customization.

Current Problem:

• _SYSTEM_PROMPT in ai_client.py (lines ~118-143) is hardcoded
• It contains foundational instructions: "You are a helpful coding assistant with access to a PowerShell tool..."
• Users can only see/appending their custom portion via _custom_system_prompt
• The base prompt that defines core agent capabilities is invisible

Goal:

• Make _SYSTEM_PROMPT visible and editable in the UI
• Allow users to customize the foundational agent instructions
• Maintain sensible defaults while enabling expert customization

2. Current State Audit

Hidden System Prompt Location

src/ai_client.py:

_SYSTEM_PROMPT: str = (
 "You are a helpful coding assistant with access to a PowerShell tool (run_powershell) and MCP tools (file access: read_file, list_directory, search_files, get_file_summary, web access: web_search, fetch_url). "
 "When calling file/directory tools, always use the 'path' parameter for the target path. "
 ...
)

Related State

• _custom_system_prompt - user-defined append/injection
• _get_combined_system_prompt() - merges both
• set_custom_system_prompt() - setter for user portion

UI Current State

• AI Settings → System Prompts shows global and project prompts
• These are injected as [USER SYSTEM PROMPT] after _SYSTEM_PROMPT
• But _SYSTEM_PROMPT itself is never shown

3. Functional Requirements

3.1 Base System Prompt Visibility

• Add "Base System Prompt" section in AI Settings
• Display current _SYSTEM_PROMPT content
• Allow editing with syntax highlighting (it's markdown text)

3.2 Default vs Custom Base

• Maintain default base prompt as reference
• User can reset to default if they mess it up
• Show diff between default and custom

3.3 Persistence

• Custom base prompt stored in config or project TOML
• Loaded on app start
• Applied before _custom_system_prompt in _get_combined_system_prompt()

3.4 Provider Considerations

• Some providers handle system prompts differently
• Verify behavior across Gemini, Anthropic, DeepSeek
• May need provider-specific base prompts

4. Data Model

4.1 Config Storage

[ai_settings]
base_system_prompt = """..."""
use_default_base = true

4.2 Combined Prompt Order

1. _SYSTEM_PROMPT (or custom base if enabled)
2. [USER SYSTEM PROMPT] (from AI Settings global/project)
3. Tooling strategy (from bias engine)

5. UI Design

Location: AI Settings panel → System Prompts section

┌─ System Prompts ──────────────────────────────┐
│ ☑ Use Default Base System Prompt              │
│                                              │
│ Base System Prompt (collapsed by default):    │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ You are a helpful coding assistant...     │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                              │
│ [Show Editor] [Reset to Default]              │
│                                              │
│ Global System Prompt:                         │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ [current global prompt content]           │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

When "Show Editor" clicked:

• Expand to full editor for base prompt
• Syntax highlighting for markdown
• Character count

6. Acceptance Criteria

• _SYSTEM_PROMPT visible in AI Settings
• User can edit base system prompt
• Changes persist across app restarts
• "Reset to Default" restores original
• Provider APIs receive modified prompt correctly
• No regression in agent behavior with defaults

7. Out of Scope

• Changes to actual agent behavior logic
• Changes to tool definitions or availability
• Changes to aggregation or context handling

8. Dependencies

• ai_client.py - _SYSTEM_PROMPT and _get_combined_system_prompt()
• gui_2.py - AI Settings panel rendering
• models.py - Config structures