Prompts

Define prompt templates as code, version them on deploy, and override from the dashboard without redeploying.

The AI Agents and Prompts surface ships as part of the v4.5 release candidate. Install with @trigger.dev/sdk@rc (or pin 4.5.0-rc.0 or later) to use these features — they aren’t yet on the latest stable, and APIs may still change before the 4.5.0 GA. See supported AI SDK versions and the AI chat changelog for details.

Overview

AI Prompts let you define prompt templates in your codebase alongside your tasks. When you deploy, Trigger.dev automatically versions your prompts. You can then:

• View all prompt versions in the dashboard
• Create overrides to change the prompt text or model without redeploying
• Track every generation that used each prompt version
• See token usage, cost, and latency metrics per prompt
• Manage prompts programmatically via SDK methods

Defining a prompt

Use prompts.define() to create a prompt with typed variables:

import { prompts } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import { z } from "zod";

export const supportPrompt = prompts.define({
  id: "customer-support",
  description: "System prompt for customer support interactions",
  model: "gpt-4o",
  config: { temperature: 0.7 },
  variables: z.object({
    customerName: z.string(),
    plan: z.string(),
    issue: z.string(),
  }),
  content: `You are a support agent for Acme SaaS.

## Customer context

- **Name:** {{customerName}}
- **Plan:** {{plan}}
- **Issue:** {{issue}}

Respond to the customer's issue. Be concise and helpful.`,
});

Options

Option	Type	Required	Description
id	string	Yes	Unique identifier (becomes the prompt slug)
description	string	No	Shown in the dashboard
model	string	No	Default model (e.g. "gpt-4o", "claude-sonnet-4-6")
config	object	No	Default config (temperature, maxTokens, etc.)
variables	Zod/ArkType schema	No	Schema for template variables (enables validation and dashboard UI)
content	string	Yes	The prompt template with {{variable}} placeholders

Template syntax

Templates use Mustache-style placeholders:

• {{variableName}} — replaced with the variable value
• {{#conditionalVar}}...{{/conditionalVar}} — content only included if the variable is truthy

export const prompt = prompts.define({
  id: "summarizer",
  model: "gpt-4o-mini",
  variables: z.object({
    text: z.string(),
    maxSentences: z.string().optional(),
  }),
  content: `Summarize the following text{{#maxSentences}} in {{maxSentences}} sentences or fewer{{/maxSentences}}:

{{text}}`,
});

Resolving a prompt

Via prompt handle

Call .resolve() on the handle returned by define():

const resolved = await supportPrompt.resolve({
  customerName: "Alice",
  plan: "Pro",
  issue: "Cannot access billing dashboard",
});

console.log(resolved.text);    // The compiled prompt with variables filled in
console.log(resolved.version); // e.g. 3
console.log(resolved.model);   // "gpt-4o"
console.log(resolved.labels);  // ["current"] or ["override"]

Via standalone prompts.resolve()

Resolve any prompt by slug without needing a handle. Pass the prompt handle as a type parameter for full type safety:

import { prompts } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import type { supportPrompt } from "./prompts";

// Fully typesafe — ID and variables are checked at compile time
const resolved = await prompts.resolve<typeof supportPrompt>("customer-support", {
  customerName: "Alice",
  plan: "Pro",
  issue: "Cannot access billing dashboard",
});

Without the generic, the function still works but accepts any string slug and Record<string, unknown> variables.

Resolve options

You can resolve a specific version or label:

// Resolve a specific version
const v2 = await supportPrompt.resolve(variables, { version: 2 });

// Resolve by label
const current = await supportPrompt.resolve(variables, { label: "current" });

By default, resolve() returns the override version if one is active, otherwise the current (latest deployed) version.

Both promptHandle.resolve() and prompts.resolve() call the Trigger.dev API when a client is configured. During local dev with trigger dev, this means you’ll always get the server version (including overrides).

Using with the AI SDK

The resolved prompt integrates with the Vercel AI SDK via toAISDKTelemetry(). This links AI generation spans to the prompt in the dashboard.

generateText

import { task } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import { generateText, stepCountIs } from "ai";
import { anthropic } from "@ai-sdk/anthropic";

export const supportTask = task({
  id: "handle-support",
  run: async (payload) => {
    const resolved = await supportPrompt.resolve({
      customerName: payload.name,
      plan: payload.plan,
      issue: payload.issue,
    });

    const result = await generateText({
      model: openai(resolved.model ?? "gpt-4o"),
      system: resolved.text,
      prompt: payload.issue,
      ...resolved.toAISDKTelemetry(),
    });

    return { response: result.text };
  },
});

streamText

import { streamText } from "ai";

export const streamTask = task({
  id: "stream-support",
  run: async (payload) => {
    const resolved = await supportPrompt.resolve({
      customerName: payload.name,
      plan: payload.plan,
      issue: payload.issue,
    });

    const result = streamText({
      model: openai(resolved.model ?? "gpt-4o"),
      system: resolved.text,
      prompt: payload.issue,
      ...resolved.toAISDKTelemetry(),
      stopWhen: stepCountIs(15),
    });

    let fullText = "";
    for await (const chunk of result.textStream) {
      fullText += chunk;
    }

    return { response: fullText };
  },
});

Custom telemetry metadata

Pass additional metadata to toAISDKTelemetry() that will appear on the generation span:

const result = await generateText({
  model: anthropic("claude-sonnet-4-5"),
  prompt: resolved.text,
  ...resolved.toAISDKTelemetry({
    "task.type": "summarization",
    "customer.tier": "enterprise",
  }),
});

Using with chat.agent()

Prompts integrate with chat.agent() via chat.prompt — a run-scoped store for the resolved prompt. Store a prompt once in a lifecycle hook, then access it anywhere during the run.

chat.prompt.set() and chat.prompt()

import { chat } from "@trigger.dev/sdk/ai";
import { prompts } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import { streamText, createProviderRegistry } from "ai";
import { anthropic } from "@ai-sdk/anthropic";

const registry = createProviderRegistry({ anthropic });

const systemPrompt = prompts.define({
  id: "my-chat-system",
  model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5",
  config: { temperature: 0.7 },
  variables: z.object({ name: z.string() }),
  content: `You are a helpful assistant for {{name}}.`,
});

export const myChat = chat.agent({
  id: "my-chat",
  onChatStart: async ({ clientData }) => {
    const resolved = await systemPrompt.resolve({ name: clientData.name });
    chat.prompt.set(resolved);
  },
  run: async ({ messages, signal }) => {
    return streamText({
      ...chat.toStreamTextOptions({ registry }),
      messages,
      abortSignal: signal,
      stopWhen: stepCountIs(15),
    });
  },
});

chat.toStreamTextOptions()

Returns an options object ready to spread into streamText(). When a prompt is stored via chat.prompt.set(), it includes:

• system — the compiled prompt text
• model — resolved via the registry when provided
• temperature, maxTokens, etc. — from the prompt’s config
• experimental_telemetry — links generations to the prompt in the dashboard

// With registry — model is resolved automatically
const options = chat.toStreamTextOptions({ registry });
// { system: "...", model: LanguageModel, temperature: 0.7, experimental_telemetry: { ... } }

// Without registry — model is not included
const options = chat.toStreamTextOptions();
// { system: "...", temperature: 0.7, experimental_telemetry: { ... } }

When the user provides a registry and the prompt has a model string (e.g. "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5"), the model is resolved via registry.languageModel() and included in the returned options. This means streamText uses the prompt’s model by default — no manual model selection needed.

Reading the prompt

Access the stored prompt from anywhere in the run:

run: async ({ messages, signal }) => {
  const prompt = chat.prompt(); // Throws if not set
  console.log(prompt.text);     // The compiled prompt
  console.log(prompt.model);    // "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5"
  console.log(prompt.version);  // 3

  return streamText({
    ...chat.toStreamTextOptions({ registry }),
    messages,
    abortSignal: signal,
    stopWhen: stepCountIs(15),
  });
},

You can also set a plain string if you don’t need the full prompt system:

chat.prompt.set("You are a helpful assistant.");

Prompt management SDK

The prompts namespace includes methods for managing prompts programmatically. These work both inside tasks and outside (e.g. scripts, API handlers) as long as an API client is configured.

List prompts

const allPrompts = await prompts.list();

List versions

const versions = await prompts.versions("customer-support");

Create an override

Create a new override that takes priority over the deployed version:

const result = await prompts.createOverride("customer-support", {
  textContent: "New prompt template: Hello {{customerName}}!",
  model: "gpt-4o-mini",
  commitMessage: "Shorter prompt",
});

Update an override

await prompts.updateOverride("customer-support", {
  textContent: "Updated template: Hi {{customerName}}!",
  model: "gpt-4o",
});

Remove an override

Remove the active override, reverting to the deployed version:

await prompts.removeOverride("customer-support");

Promote a version

await prompts.promote("customer-support", 2);

All management methods

Method	Description
prompts.list()	List all prompts in the current environment
prompts.versions(slug)	List all versions for a prompt
prompts.resolve(slug, variables?, options?)	Resolve a prompt by slug
prompts.promote(slug, version)	Promote a version to current
prompts.createOverride(slug, body)	Create an override
prompts.updateOverride(slug, body)	Update the active override
prompts.removeOverride(slug)	Remove the active override
prompts.reactivateOverride(slug, version)	Reactivate a removed override

Overrides

Overrides let you change a prompt’s template or model from the dashboard or SDK without redeploying your code. When an override is active, resolve() returns the override version instead of the deployed version.

How overrides work

• Overrides take priority over the deployed (“current”) version
• Only one override can be active at a time
• Creating a new override replaces the previous one
• Removing an override reverts to the deployed version
• Overrides are environment-scoped (dev, staging, production are independent)

Creating an override (dashboard)

1. Go to the prompt detail page
2. Click Create Override
3. Edit the template text and/or model
4. Add an optional commit message
5. Click Create override

Version resolution order

When resolve() is called, versions are resolved in this order:

1. Specific version — if { version: N } is passed
2. Override — if an override is active in this environment
3. Label — if { label: "..." } is passed (defaults to "current")
4. Current — the latest deployed version with the “current” label

Dashboard

Prompts list

The prompts list page shows all prompts in the current environment with the current or override version, default model, and a usage sparkline.

Prompt detail

Click a prompt to see:

• Template panel — the prompt template for the selected version
• Details tab — slug, description, model, config, source file, and variable schema
• Versions tab — all versions with labels, source, and commit messages
• Generations tab — every AI generation that used this prompt, with live polling
• Metrics tab — token usage, cost, and latency charts

AI span inspectors

When you use toAISDKTelemetry(), AI generation spans in the run trace get a custom inspector showing:

• Overview — model, provider, token usage, cost, input/output preview
• Messages — the full message thread
• Tools — tool definitions and tool call details
• Prompt — the linked prompt’s metadata, input variables, and template content

Type utilities

import type { PromptHandle, PromptIdentifier, PromptVariables } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

type Id = PromptIdentifier<typeof supportPrompt>;   // "customer-support"
type Vars = PromptVariables<typeof supportPrompt>;   // { customerName: string; plan: string; issue: string }