Prompt versions

A prompt version is a snapshot of a prompt template at a point in time. Versioning prompts gives you reproducibility: you can answer “what did we send to the model?” for any trace or eval run.

Why prompts need versioning

• Prompts change frequently and impact behavior as much as code changes.
• Without versioning, debugging becomes guesswork: you can’t reproduce results reliably.
• Safe deployment requires promotion and rollback the same way you treat backend releases.

What to version

• the full template content (system + user + tools)
• variables and expected schema (what inputs the template requires)
• default parameters (model choice, temperature, max tokens)
• migration notes (what changed and why)

How to use prompt versions in production

Recommended pattern:

• code references a prompt id
• environments map that prompt id → active version
• traces record both prompt id and version id

That makes rollbacks instant and analytics sliceable.

Next steps

• Read Prompt management for workflows and governance.