Prompts and Profiles

IST tools work because prompts teach the AI how to use them. This page explains the mechanism.

The core pattern

Every IST tool follows the same pattern:

CLI tool  +  prompt  =  AI capability

• The CLI tool exists on the system (e.g., imessenger is a binary in PATH)
• The prompt describes when and how to call it
• The AI reads the prompt and calls the tool automatically

Without the prompt, the AI doesn't know the tool exists. With it, the AI uses the tool as naturally as any built-in capability.

What a prompt looks like

Here's a simplified version of the worker-management prompt that teaches a Manager AI how to manage workers:

# Worker Management

You can create and manage worker sessions using these tools:

## Creating a worker
  isesh start <name> -p <profile>

## Sending tasks
  imessenger send <session> "<message>"

## Monitoring
  smon status

## Communication prefixes
Workers report using these prefixes:
- [COMPLETE] — Task finished
- [PROGRESS] — Status update
- [QUESTION] — Needs clarification
- [ERROR] — Something failed

When the AI reads this, it learns:

1. What commands exist
2. What arguments they take
3. When to use each command
4. What conventions to follow

What a profile is

A profile bundles prompts and settings for a specific role:

• tda-manager — Includes prompts for worker management, monitoring, task delegation
• tda-worker — Includes prompts for task execution, reporting, code conventions
• mwd — Includes prompts for incremental development practices

When you run isesh start my-project -p tda-manager, the Manager profile loads all its prompts into the AI's context.

How prompts are stored

Prompts live in ~/.ist/prompts/ as text files. They're installed by skit packages or created manually.

~/.ist/
  prompts/
    worker-management        # How to manage workers
    smon-usage               # How to use the session monitor
    session-start            # Startup procedures
    quality-check            # Pre-completion checks
    ...

The AI discovers available prompts by running:

isesh prompt list          # See what's available
isesh prompt show <name>   # Read a specific prompt

The skit pattern

This "CLI + prompt" pattern is called a skit (Skill Kit). IST's own tools are skits:

CLI tool	Prompt	Capability
imessenger	worker-management	Inter-session messaging
smon	smon-usage	Session monitoring
isesh	session-start	Session management
ilogsession	basic-usage	Session logging

You can extend the AI's capabilities by installing more skit packages or creating your own. Any CLI tool that's in PATH, paired with a prompt that explains it, becomes an AI capability.

Prompt scope

Prompts can be:

• Global — Available to all sessions (installed in ~/.ist/prompts/)
• Session — Specific to one session (set via isesh prompt add)

Most prompts are global, installed once via skit install.

Why this matters

This design means:

1. AI capabilities are modular — Add a tool by adding a CLI + prompt pair
2. No hardcoding — The AI doesn't have IST tools built in; it learns them from prompts
3. Customizable — Change a prompt to change how the AI uses a tool
4. Extensible — Anyone can create a skit package to add new capabilities

Next steps

• What happens on start — See prompts in action during session startup
• Quick Start — Try it yourself