promptcmd

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Executing Prompts ​

Once a prompt is created and enabled, it becomes a regular command-line program that you can execute directly.

Basic Execution ​

Execute a prompt by calling it as a command with the required arguments:

bash
$ echo "Hello world!" | translate --to German
Hallo Welt

Command Help ​

Every prompt automatically generates a help message based on its schema:

bash
$ translate --help

Usage: translate --to <to>

Options:
      --to <to>   Target language
  -h, --help     Print help

Dry Run Mode ​

Test a prompt without actually calling the API using the --dry flag:

bash
$ translate --to German --dry

This shows you what would be sent to the LLM without consuming tokens or making an API call.

TIP

The --dry flag works with all execution methods: direct execution, promptcmd, and promptctl run.

Indirect Execution ​

There are several alternative ways for executing prompts that do not require explicit enabling first, i.e., they still work even for "disabled" prompts.

Using promptcmd ​

Pass the prompt name or path to the prompt file to promptcmd, together with the prompt arguments.

promptcmd promptname --arg1 --arg2
promptcmd /path/to/promptfile.prompt --arg1 --arg2

Using promptctl ​

You can also execute prompts through promptctl run:

bash
$ promptctl run promptname [--dry] -- --arg1 --arg2

Note that when executing using promptctl the prompt arguments must be separated from promptctl run arguments via --.

Using Shebang ​

You can execute a prompt file as a script by adding a shebang line at the top, similar to shell scripts. The file must be made executable with chmod +x.

yaml
#!/usr/bin/env promptcmd
---
schema:
  input:
    message: string
---

{{message}}
$ chmod +x myprompt.prompt
$ ./myprompt.prompt --help

Usage: promptcmd [OPTIONS] --message <message> [promptname]

Arguments:
  [promptname]

Prompt inputs:
      --message <message>

INFO

The chmod +x command makes the file executable on Unix-like systems. The help output includes [promptname] because promptcmd normally expects a prompt name as its first argument, but this can be ignored when executing the file directly via shebang.