"""Self-Modifying Prompt Engine — agent learns from its own failures. Analyzes session transcripts, identifies failure patterns, and generates prompt patches to prevent future failures. The loop: fail → analyze → rewrite → retry → verify improvement. Usage: from agent.self_modify import PromptLearner learner = PromptLearner() patches = learner.analyze_session(session_id) learner.apply_patches(patches) """ from __future__ import annotations import json import logging import os import re import time from dataclasses import dataclass, field from datetime import datetime, timezone from pathlib import Path from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Tuple logger = logging.getLogger(__name__) HERMES_HOME = Path(os.getenv("HERMES_HOME", Path.home() / ".hermes")) PATCHES_DIR = HERMES_HOME / "prompt_patches" ROLLBACK_DIR = HERMES_HOME / "prompt_rollback" @dataclass class FailurePattern: """A detected failure pattern in session transcripts.""" pattern_type: str # retry_loop, timeout, error_hallucination, context_loss description: str frequency: int example_messages: List[str] = field(default_factory=list) suggested_fix: str = "" @dataclass class PromptPatch: """A modification to the system prompt based on failure analysis.""" id: str failure_type: str original_rule: str new_rule: str confidence: float applied_at: Optional[float] = None reverted: bool = False # Failure detection patterns FAILURE_SIGNALS = { "retry_loop": { "patterns": [ r"(?i)retry(?:ing)?\s*(?:attempt|again)", r"(?i)failed.*retrying", r"(?i)error.*again", r"(?i)attempt\s+\d+\s*(?:of|/)\s*\d+", ], "description": "Agent stuck in retry loop", }, "timeout": { "patterns": [ r"(?i)timed?\s*out", r"(?i)deadline\s+exceeded", r"(?i)took\s+(?:too\s+)?long", ], "description": "Operation timed out", }, "hallucination": { "patterns": [ r"(?i)i\s+(?:don't|do\s+not)\s+(?:have|see|find)\s+(?:any|that|this)\s+(?:information|data|file)", r"(?i)the\s+file\s+doesn't\s+exist", r"(?i)i\s+(?:made|invented|fabricated)\s+(?:that\s+up|this)", ], "description": "Agent hallucinated or fabricated information", }, "context_loss": { "patterns": [ r"(?i)i\s+(?:don't|do\s+not)\s+(?:remember|recall|know)\s+(?:what|where|when|how)", r"(?i)could\s+you\s+remind\s+me", r"(?i)what\s+were\s+we\s+(?:doing|working|talking)\s+(?:on|about)", ], "description": "Agent lost context from earlier in conversation", }, "tool_failure": { "patterns": [ r"(?i)tool\s+(?:call|execution)\s+failed", r"(?i)command\s+not\s+found", r"(?i)permission\s+denied", r"(?i)no\s+such\s+file", ], "description": "Tool execution failed", }, } # Prompt improvement templates PROMPT_FIXES = { "retry_loop": ( "If an operation fails more than twice, stop retrying. " "Report the failure and ask the user for guidance. " "Do not enter retry loops — they waste tokens." ), "timeout": ( "For operations that may take long, set a timeout and report " "progress. If an operation takes more than 30 seconds, report " "what you've done so far and ask if you should continue." ), "hallucination": ( "If you cannot find information, say 'I don't know' or " "'I couldn't find that.' Never fabricate information. " "If a file doesn't exist, say so — don't guess its contents." ), "context_loss": ( "When you need context from earlier in the conversation, " "use session_search to find it. Don't ask the user to repeat themselves." ), "tool_failure": ( "If a tool fails, check the error message and try a different approach. " "Don't retry the exact same command — diagnose first." ), } class PromptLearner: """Analyze session transcripts and generate prompt improvements.""" def __init__(self): PATCHES_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True) ROLLBACK_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True) def analyze_session(self, session_data: dict) -> List[FailurePattern]: """Analyze a session for failure patterns. Args: session_data: Session dict with 'messages' list. Returns: List of detected failure patterns. """ messages = session_data.get("messages", []) patterns_found: Dict[str, FailurePattern] = {} for msg in messages: content = str(msg.get("content", "")) role = msg.get("role", "") # Only analyze assistant messages and tool results if role not in ("assistant", "tool"): continue for failure_type, config in FAILURE_SIGNALS.items(): for pattern in config["patterns"]: if re.search(pattern, content): if failure_type not in patterns_found: patterns_found[failure_type] = FailurePattern( pattern_type=failure_type, description=config["description"], frequency=0, suggested_fix=PROMPT_FIXES.get(failure_type, ""), ) patterns_found[failure_type].frequency += 1 if len(patterns_found[failure_type].example_messages) < 3: patterns_found[failure_type].example_messages.append( content[:200] ) break # One match per message per type is enough return list(patterns_found.values()) def generate_patches(self, patterns: List[FailurePattern], min_confidence: float = 0.7) -> List[PromptPatch]: """Generate prompt patches from failure patterns. Args: patterns: Detected failure patterns. min_confidence: Minimum confidence to generate a patch. Returns: List of prompt patches. """ patches = [] for pattern in patterns: # Confidence based on frequency if pattern.frequency >= 3: confidence = 0.9 elif pattern.frequency >= 2: confidence = 0.75 else: confidence = 0.5 if confidence < min_confidence: continue if not pattern.suggested_fix: continue patch = PromptPatch( id=f"{pattern.pattern_type}-{int(time.time())}", failure_type=pattern.pattern_type, original_rule="(missing — no existing rule for this pattern)", new_rule=pattern.suggested_fix, confidence=confidence, ) patches.append(patch) return patches def apply_patches(self, patches: List[PromptPatch], prompt_path: Optional[str] = None) -> int: """Apply patches to the system prompt. Args: patches: Patches to apply. prompt_path: Path to prompt file (default: ~/.hermes/system_prompt.md) Returns: Number of patches applied. """ if prompt_path is None: prompt_path = str(HERMES_HOME / "system_prompt.md") prompt_file = Path(prompt_path) # Backup current prompt if prompt_file.exists(): backup = ROLLBACK_DIR / f"{prompt_file.name}.{int(time.time())}.bak" backup.write_text(prompt_file.read_text()) # Read current prompt current = prompt_file.read_text() if prompt_file.exists() else "" # Apply patches applied = 0 additions = [] for patch in patches: if patch.new_rule not in current: additions.append(f"\n## Auto-learned: {patch.failure_type}\n{patch.new_rule}") patch.applied_at = time.time() applied += 1 if additions: new_content = current + "\n".join(additions) prompt_file.write_text(new_content) # Log patches patches_file = PATCHES_DIR / f"patches-{int(time.time())}.json" with open(patches_file, "w") as f: json.dump([p.__dict__ for p in patches], f, indent=2, default=str) logger.info("Applied %d prompt patches", applied) return applied def rollback_last(self, prompt_path: Optional[str] = None) -> bool: """Rollback to the most recent backup. Args: prompt_path: Path to prompt file. Returns: True if rollback succeeded. """ if prompt_path is None: prompt_path = str(HERMES_HOME / "system_prompt.md") backups = sorted(ROLLBACK_DIR.glob("*.bak"), reverse=True) if not backups: logger.warning("No backups to rollback to") return False latest = backups[0] Path(prompt_path).write_text(latest.read_text()) logger.info("Rolled back to %s", latest.name) return True def learn_from_session(self, session_data: dict) -> Dict[str, Any]: """Full learning cycle: analyze → patch → apply. Args: session_data: Session dict. Returns: Summary of what was learned and applied. """ patterns = self.analyze_session(session_data) patches = self.generate_patches(patterns) applied = self.apply_patches(patches) return { "patterns_detected": len(patterns), "patches_generated": len(patches), "patches_applied": applied, "patterns": [ {"type": p.pattern_type, "frequency": p.frequency, "description": p.description} for p in patterns ], }