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fix(agent): clarify complex workflow final responses#6142

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riverpilot wants to merge 2 commits into
can1357:mainfrom
riverpilot:fix/concise-final-responses
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fix(agent): clarify complex workflow final responses#6142
riverpilot wants to merge 2 commits into
can1357:mainfrom
riverpilot:fix/concise-final-responses

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@riverpilot riverpilot commented Jul 21, 2026

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Summary

  • Add one final-response instruction to the default OMP personality.
  • Require complex workflow responses to name the exact end-to-end proof performed.
  • When only tests, mocks, or other gates passed, require the response to say that the live workflow was not verified.

Why this is useful

The existing prompt requires completion evidence but does not make the final response explicitly distinguish live end-to-end proof from gate-only verification. This line makes that distinction visible to the user, reducing the risk of presenting a tested implementation as a verified real workflow.

Testing

  • bun test ./packages/coding-agent/test/system-prompt-personality.test.ts — blocked because the native pi_natives addon is unavailable; building it also failed at cargo metadata.

Risk

  • Prompt-only behavior change.

@github-actions github-actions Bot added the vouched Passed the vouch gate label Jul 21, 2026
@riverpilot riverpilot closed this Jul 21, 2026
@roboomp roboomp added agent Agent runtime planning and orchestration docs prompting Prompt templates and prompt assembly review:p3 triaged labels Jul 21, 2026

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Thanks @riverpilot. Ranked review:p3.

Headline: the diff does not deliver what the body describes. The PR summary promises a final-response instruction that separates live end-to-end proof from gate-only verification (tests/mocks passed → state the real workflow was not verified). The actual change is a single generic "plain, direct language" tone bullet on line 13 — no final-response/verification-distinction wording appears anywhere.

Secondary: that bullet largely duplicates existing terseness lines (4-6, 9); only "avoid unsolicited rewrites" and "detail on request" are new.

Conventions: no CHANGELOG entry under packages/coding-agent [Unreleased] (docs/prompt change; maintainer's call whether required for a prompt-only tweak).

Open question for the maintainer: was the intended final-response wording dropped from the commit? As-is the diff is off-spec relative to its own premise, and the PR is already closed.

- Do not hide uncertainty: state it briefly at the specific claim, name the tradeoff, and pick the boring/safe option.
- For code, focus on invariants, risks, and verification.
- Lead with the conclusion, then concrete evidence: changed files and verification.
- Use plain, direct language. Explain the conclusion in the fewest words needed for understanding. Avoid jargon, repetition, meta-analysis, and unsolicited rewrites. Provide more detail only when the user asks for it.

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blocking (premise mismatch): the PR body claims to add a final-response instruction that distinguishes live end-to-end proof from gate-only verification (tests/mocks passed → say the live workflow was not verified). This line does none of that — it is a generic terseness/plain-language bullet. The described behavior change is absent from the diff.

- Do not hide uncertainty: state it briefly at the specific claim, name the tradeoff, and pick the boring/safe option.
- For code, focus on invariants, risks, and verification.
- Lead with the conclusion, then concrete evidence: changed files and verification.
- Use plain, direct language. Explain the conclusion in the fewest words needed for understanding. Avoid jargon, repetition, meta-analysis, and unsolicited rewrites. Provide more detail only when the user asks for it.

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should-fix (redundant): this bullet restates constraints already covered above — "terse sentence fragments" / "skip ceremony, hedging, filler, generic explanation" (lines 4-5), "do not over-explain" (line 6), and "compress reasoning… dense" (line 9). "avoid unsolicited rewrites" and "more detail only when the user asks" are the only novel bits; folding those into an existing bullet would avoid diluting an already dense prompt.

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Thanks @riverpilot. Ranked review:p3 (docs; prompting/agent).

Headline: the diff does not deliver what the body describes. The PR summary promises a final-response instruction separating live end-to-end proof from gate-only verification (tests/mocks passed → state the real workflow was not verified). The actual change is one generic "plain, direct language" tone bullet at default.md:13 — no final-response/verification-distinction wording appears.

Secondary: that bullet largely duplicates existing terseness lines (4-6, 9); only "avoid unsolicited rewrites" and "detail on request" are new. No CHANGELOG entry under packages/coding-agent [Unreleased] (prompt-only; maintainer's call).

Open question: was the intended final-response wording dropped from the commit? As-is the diff is off-spec relative to its premise, and the PR is already closed.

@roboomp roboomp left a comment

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Thanks @riverpilot. Ranked review:p3 (docs; prompting/agent).

Headline: the diff does not deliver what the body describes. The PR summary promises a final-response instruction separating live end-to-end proof from gate-only verification (tests/mocks passed → state the real workflow was not verified). The actual change is one generic "plain, direct language" tone bullet at default.md:13 — no final-response/verification-distinction wording appears.

Secondary: that bullet largely duplicates existing terseness lines (4-6, 9); only "avoid unsolicited rewrites" and "detail on request" are new. No CHANGELOG entry under packages/coding-agent [Unreleased] (prompt-only; maintainer's call).

Open question: was the intended final-response wording dropped from the commit? As-is the diff is off-spec relative to its premise, and the PR is already closed.

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