The static-prefix reconstruction pattern (build_system_prompt_parts ->
['stable'] -> startswith gate -> fail-open) existed in three copies:
session restore (conversation_loop), compression keep-prompt path
(conversation_compression), and the new failover redecoration helper.
Hoist it into agent/system_prompt.reconstruct_static_prefix and call it
from all three sites.
Also memoize failed rebuilds per stored prompt (_static_rebuild_failed_for):
the redecoration chokepoint runs at the top of every retry attempt, and a
persistent stable-tier mismatch (restored session whose SOUL.md/skills
changed since save) would otherwise re-run the full prompt build — SOUL.md,
context files, memory I/O — on every attempt of every API call for the
life of the session. A legitimately changed stored prompt retries once.
Follow-up to the cherry-picked #68258 base: the cross-session-stable
prefix (_cached_system_prompt_static) was only recorded on fresh
builds, so two paths silently degraded to the legacy single-breakpoint
layout (flagged in review of #68258/#69341/#69704):
- Session restore: gateway surfaces build a fresh AIAgent per turn and
restore the persisted prompt verbatim from the session DB; the static
prefix stayed None from turn 2 onward, flip-flopping the wire layout.
- Post-compression cached-prompt reuse: _invalidate_system_prompt()
clears the static prefix, and the keep-cached-prompt branch never
restored it.
Both sites now reconstruct the stable tier and adopt it ONLY when the
authoritative prompt string literally startswith() it — stable-tier
drift (skills edited, identity changed) falls back to the legacy layout
with the stored bytes untouched. Fail-open on any builder error. The
restore-path rebuild is gated on _use_prompt_caching so non-Anthropic
routes skip it entirely.
Refs #68191
Co-authored-by: JonthanaHanh <92574114+JonthanaHanh@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: joaomarcos <joaomarcosdias444@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: webtecnica <webtecnica@users.noreply.github.com>
A live config.set model switch already moved the next API call to the new model,
but the conversation could still restore an old sessions.system_prompt snapshot
whose Model/Provider lines named the previous runtime. That made "what model are
you?" answer from stale metadata even while inference ran on the new model.
After a live switch we now refresh the stored system prompt and append a real
system-history pivot (not a fake user turn) so the transcript itself records the
new model/provider. Restore also rejects already-stale prompt snapshots when
their Model/Provider lines disagree with the runtime, so existing bad sessions
self-heal.
The system prompt's 'Conversation started:' line carried minute precision
(%I:%M %p), making it byte-unstable across every rebuild path. Within a
CLI session the in-memory cache held, but on the gateway path (fresh
AIAgent per turn → restore from session DB), any silent failure in the
read or write path dropped the cache stem and forced a full re-prefill
on every subsequent turn. Local prefix-caching backends (llama.cpp /
vLLM) saw this as KV-cache invalidation; remote prefix-caching providers
saw it as an Anthropic-style cache miss.
Three changes:
1. Date-only timestamp ('Sunday, May 17, 2026' instead of '... 03:42 PM').
System prompt now byte-stable for the full day. The model can still
query exact time via tools when it actually needs it. Credit:
@iamfoz (PR #20451).
2. Loud logging on session DB write failures. The update_system_prompt
call used to log at DEBUG, hiding disk-full / locked-database / schema
drift behind a silent fall-through that forced fresh rebuilds on
every subsequent turn. Now WARN with the session id and exception so
persistent issues show up in agent.log without verbose mode.
3. Three-way stored-state distinction on read. The previous
'session_row.get("system_prompt") or None' collapsed three states
into one (missing row / null column / empty string). Now we tell them
apart and WARN when a continuing session lands on null/empty (which
means the previous turn's write never persisted — every subsequent
turn rebuilds and the prefix cache misses every time).
The restore block is extracted into _restore_or_build_system_prompt()
so the prefix-cache path can be unit-tested in isolation.
E2E proof: fresh AIAgent constructed for turn 2 across a minute-boundary
sleep restores byte-identical bytes from the session DB. NULL stored
prompt fires the new warning. Date-only timestamp survives the rebuild
path. All on real SessionDB, no mocks.
Tests:
- tests/agent/test_system_prompt_restore.py (10 new tests)
- tests/run_agent/test_run_agent.py::TestBuildSystemPrompt::
test_datetime_is_date_only_not_minute_precision
Closes#20451 (date-only), #18547 (prefix stabilization),
#8689 (stabilize timestamp across compression), #15866 (timestamp
caching question), #8687 (compression timestamp), #27339
(claim #3: live timestamp in cached system prompt).
Co-authored-by: Martyn Forryan <9133432+iamfoz@users.noreply.github.com>
Teknium
kshitijk4poor
Brooklyn Nicholson