We keep losing track of which prompt is in prod

A good fix is to make the prompt itself a versioned artifact, not just copied text.

Simple ways to stop losing track

1. Give every prompt an ID and version

   • Example: support_agent_v12
   • Include:
     • owner
     • date
     • purpose
     • changelog
     • status: draft / staging / prod

2. Store prompts in one source of truth

   • Git repo, Notion, Airtable, or a prompt registry
   • No editing prompts directly in random docs or chats

3. Separate “draft” from “prod”

   • Keep a latest working version, but only one explicitly marked production
   • Require a promotion step to move a prompt into prod

4. Track deployments

   • Log:
     • prompt version
     • model version
     • system instructions
     • date deployed
     • who approved it
   • This helps when output changes unexpectedly

5. Add the prompt version to runtime logs

   • Every request should record something like:
     • prompt_id=support_agent
     • prompt_version=12
   • Then you can always trace what was actually used

Lightweight process

• Write prompt
• Review it
• Tag it vX
• Deploy that exact version
• Log the deployed version in your app
• Never overwrite a live prompt without versioning

If you want, I can help you set up one of these:

• a Git-based prompt versioning workflow
• a prompt registry template
• or a very simple production prompt tracking system for your team