nlweb-prompts-customization

NLWeb Prompts Customization

Config layout changed upstream. NLWeb replaced the single site_types.xml with two files in config/: sites.xml (site name → itemType list + description) and tools.xml (per-site / per-type tool definitions, prompts and examples, scoped by <Site id="…"> / <Item> blocks). Older guidance — including any site_type / extends inheritance syntax — describes the retired file. Fetch config/sites.xml and config/tools.xml from the live repo before editing anything.

Before writing code

Fetch live docs:

1. Fetch https://github.com/nlweb-ai/NLWeb/blob/main/docs/nlweb-prompts.md for the prompts framework reference.
2. Fetch https://github.com/nlweb-ai/NLWeb/blob/main/config/prompts.xml for the canonical prompt templates currently shipped — these change between releases.
3. Fetch https://github.com/nlweb-ai/NLWeb/blob/main/config/sites.xml for per-type prompt inheritance.
4. Inspect AskAgent/python/core/prompts.py to see how prompts are loaded and parameterized.
5. Cross-reference with handlers in methods/ to see which prompt each LLM call site uses.

Conceptual Architecture

Two XML Files Drive Prompt Behavior

File	Purpose
prompts.xml	Defines <promptString> templates and their <returnStruc> JSON output contracts
tools.xml	Maps Schema.org @type → tool list + per-type prompt overrides, with inheritance

The <promptString> Template

A typical prompt entry:

<promptString name="decontextualize_query">
  <description>Rewrite the user's query to be standalone, given prior conversation.</description>
  <input>
    <field name="prev_queries" type="array" />
    <field name="current_query" type="string" />
  </input>
  <text>
Given the prior queries: {prev_queries}
And the current query: {current_query}
Return a standalone version of the current query.
  </text>
  <returnStruc>
{
  "decontextualized": "the standalone query as a single string"
}
  </returnStruc>
</promptString>