From e447d48e371605fadd12fa033d272b83bbe6a24d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: jtricerolph
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2026 11:09:44 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Make the AI insight's prompt instructions editable via
Settings
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Split the system prompt into an editable part (persona/focus/tone/
format — what the briefing prioritises and how strict its length is)
and a fixed structural appendix (how the Manual Context and Recent
Previous Insights sections get interpreted, which map directly to
conditional data the code assembles, not just prose — kept safe from
being accidentally edited away).
New ai_insights_prompt_instructions config key, a
GET /api/ai-insights/default-prompt endpoint so the Settings UI can
pre-fill/reset to the built-in default, and a textarea in the AI
Insights settings card.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5
---
backend/src/db.js | 3 ++-
backend/src/jobs/ai-insights.js | 43 +++++++++++++++++++------------
backend/src/routes/ai-insights.js | 6 ++++-
backend/src/routes/settings.js | 4 +--
frontend/src/api.ts | 4 +++
frontend/src/pages/Settings.tsx | 36 +++++++++++++++++++++++---
6 files changed, 73 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)
diff --git a/backend/src/db.js b/backend/src/db.js
index 3f45688..d574773 100644
--- a/backend/src/db.js
+++ b/backend/src/db.js
@@ -112,7 +112,8 @@ export async function initDb() {
('ai_insights_model', 'claude-haiku-4-5-20251001'),
('ai_insights_schedule_time', '07:15'),
('ai_insights_daily_token_budget', '5000'),
- ('ai_insights_manual_context', '')
+ ('ai_insights_manual_context', ''),
+ ('ai_insights_prompt_instructions', '')
ON CONFLICT (key) DO NOTHING
`)
}
diff --git a/backend/src/jobs/ai-insights.js b/backend/src/jobs/ai-insights.js
index 7dae207..94f50bb 100644
--- a/backend/src/jobs/ai-insights.js
+++ b/backend/src/jobs/ai-insights.js
@@ -32,12 +32,13 @@ async function getCostCol() {
}
export async function getAiInsightsConfig() {
- const [enabled, model, scheduleTime, dailyTokenBudget, manualContext] = await Promise.all([
+ const [enabled, model, scheduleTime, dailyTokenBudget, manualContext, promptInstructions] = await Promise.all([
getConfig('ai_insights_enabled'),
getConfig('ai_insights_model'),
getConfig('ai_insights_schedule_time'),
getConfig('ai_insights_daily_token_budget'),
getConfig('ai_insights_manual_context'),
+ getConfig('ai_insights_prompt_instructions'),
])
return {
enabled: enabled === 'true',
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ export async function getAiInsightsConfig() {
scheduleTime: scheduleTime || '07:15',
dailyTokenBudget: parseInt(dailyTokenBudget, 10) || DEFAULT_DAILY_TOKEN_BUDGET,
manualContext: manualContext || '',
+ promptInstructions: promptInstructions || '',
}
}
@@ -376,20 +378,29 @@ export async function gatherRevenueCorrelation(monthProgress) {
}
}
-export function buildPrompt(monthProgress, priorPeriod, rotaVsActual, forecast, anomalies, revenueCorrelation, recentInsights = [], manualContext = '') {
- const systemMsg =
- "You are an AI assistant for a wage cost controller in a UK hospitality business. Analyze the data below and " +
- "produce a SHORT daily briefing: hard limit of 5 bullet points TOTAL across the entire response, each a single " +
- "sentence (max ~30 words). Do not create a separate section or heading per department or per employee — pick " +
- "only the 4-5 most important things overall (across budget tracking, forecast, rota variance, pay anomalies, " +
- "wage % of revenue) and drop the rest; a department or employee with nothing notable gets no mention at all. " +
- "Use UK date format (DD/MM/YYYY) and GBP (£). Be specific with names and numbers in the bullets you do write. " +
- "No headings, no numbered action-plan section, no closing summary — just the bullets.\n\n" +
- "A 'Manual Context' section may be included below, written by a human who knows things the data can't show " +
- "(e.g. an employee's contract type, a known one-off cause, a planned change). Treat it as ground truth and " +
- "apply it directly — don't flag something as an anomaly or overspend if this context already explains it.\n\n" +
- "A 'Recent Previous Insights' section may be included below — compare against them explicitly: call out " +
- "what's changed, what's resolved, and what's still an open issue. Don't just repeat the same points verbatim."
+// Editable via Settings ("Prompt Instructions") — the persona/focus/tone/format part of the
+// system prompt. Falls back to this when the setting is blank. Kept separate from
+// STRUCTURAL_APPENDIX below so a custom prompt can't accidentally break how the Manual
+// Context / Recent Previous Insights sections get interpreted — those map directly to
+// conditional data sections in buildPrompt, not just prose.
+export const DEFAULT_PROMPT_INSTRUCTIONS =
+ "You are an AI assistant for a wage cost controller in a UK hospitality business. Analyze the data below and " +
+ "produce a SHORT daily briefing: hard limit of 5 bullet points TOTAL across the entire response, each a single " +
+ "sentence (max ~30 words). Do not create a separate section or heading per department or per employee — pick " +
+ "only the 4-5 most important things overall (across budget tracking, forecast, rota variance, pay anomalies, " +
+ "wage % of revenue) and drop the rest; a department or employee with nothing notable gets no mention at all. " +
+ "Use UK date format (DD/MM/YYYY) and GBP (£). Be specific with names and numbers in the bullets you do write. " +
+ "No headings, no numbered action-plan section, no closing summary — just the bullets."
+
+const STRUCTURAL_APPENDIX =
+ "A 'Manual Context' section may be included below, written by a human who knows things the data can't show " +
+ "(e.g. an employee's contract type, a known one-off cause, a planned change). Treat it as ground truth and " +
+ "apply it directly — don't flag something as an anomaly or overspend if this context already explains it.\n\n" +
+ "A 'Recent Previous Insights' section may be included below — compare against them explicitly: call out " +
+ "what's changed, what's resolved, and what's still an open issue. Don't just repeat the same points verbatim."
+
+export function buildPrompt(monthProgress, priorPeriod, rotaVsActual, forecast, anomalies, revenueCorrelation, recentInsights = [], manualContext = '', promptInstructions = '') {
+ const systemMsg = (promptInstructions.trim() || DEFAULT_PROMPT_INSTRUCTIONS) + "\n\n" + STRUCTURAL_APPENDIX
const lines = []
@@ -541,7 +552,7 @@ export async function generateInsight(triggeredBy = 'scheduler') {
getRecentInsights(3),
])
- const { systemMsg, userMsg } = buildPrompt(monthProgress, priorPeriod, rotaVsActual, forecast, anomalies, revenueCorrelation, recentInsights, config.manualContext)
+ const { systemMsg, userMsg } = buildPrompt(monthProgress, priorPeriod, rotaVsActual, forecast, anomalies, revenueCorrelation, recentInsights, config.manualContext, config.promptInstructions)
let result
try {
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/ai-insights.js b/backend/src/routes/ai-insights.js
index 3764b68..ac6056a 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/ai-insights.js
+++ b/backend/src/routes/ai-insights.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
import { requireAuth, requireCap } from '../auth.js'
import { pool, getConfig } from '../db.js'
import { getAnthropicApiKey } from '../lib/central-settings.js'
-import { generateInsight, MANUAL_RATE_LIMIT_MINUTES, DEFAULT_MODEL } from '../jobs/ai-insights.js'
+import { generateInsight, MANUAL_RATE_LIMIT_MINUTES, DEFAULT_MODEL, DEFAULT_PROMPT_INSTRUCTIONS } from '../jobs/ai-insights.js'
import Anthropic from '@anthropic-ai/sdk'
export async function aiInsightsRoutes(fastify) {
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ export async function aiInsightsRoutes(fastify) {
return { insights: rowsRes.rows, total: countRes.rows[0].count }
})
+ fastify.get('/api/ai-insights/default-prompt', { preHandler: requireCap('settings') }, async () => {
+ return { prompt: DEFAULT_PROMPT_INSTRUCTIONS }
+ })
+
fastify.get('/api/ai-insights/usage', { preHandler: requireCap('view') }, async () => {
const res = await pool.query(
`SELECT COALESCE(SUM(input_tokens), 0)::int AS input_tokens,
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/settings.js b/backend/src/routes/settings.js
index 551f475..0545567 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/settings.js
+++ b/backend/src/routes/settings.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { pool, getConfig, setConfig } from '../db.js'
const ALLOWED_KEYS = new Set([
'forecasting_url', 'forecasting_api_key', 'show_oncosts', 'departments', 'dept_budget_pcts', 'forecast_method',
'ai_insights_enabled', 'ai_insights_model', 'ai_insights_schedule_time', 'ai_insights_daily_token_budget',
- 'ai_insights_manual_context',
+ 'ai_insights_manual_context', 'ai_insights_prompt_instructions',
])
export async function settingsRoutes(fastify) {
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ export async function settingsRoutes(fastify) {
'forecasting_url','forecasting_api_key','show_oncosts','departments','forecast_method',
'sync_last_at','backfill_last_at',
'ai_insights_enabled','ai_insights_model','ai_insights_schedule_time','ai_insights_daily_token_budget',
- 'ai_insights_manual_context'
+ 'ai_insights_manual_context','ai_insights_prompt_instructions'
)
ORDER BY key`
)
diff --git a/frontend/src/api.ts b/frontend/src/api.ts
index 70eb971..07b8cf0 100644
--- a/frontend/src/api.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/api.ts
@@ -105,3 +105,7 @@ export function generateInsight(): Promise<{ success: boolean; content: string;
export function testAiInsightsConnection(): Promise<{ status: string; message: string }> {
return request('/ai-insights/test', { method: 'POST' })
}
+
+export function getDefaultPrompt(): Promise<{ prompt: string }> {
+ return request('/ai-insights/default-prompt')
+}
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/Settings.tsx b/frontend/src/pages/Settings.tsx
index a26ce98..04b442c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/Settings.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/Settings.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'
import { RefreshCw, Download, X, CheckSquare, Square, Bot } from 'lucide-react'
-import { getSettings, saveSettings, getDepartments, triggerSync, getSyncStatus, cancelBackfill, cancelRotaBackfill, testAiInsightsConnection, generateInsight } from '../api'
+import { getSettings, saveSettings, getDepartments, triggerSync, getSyncStatus, cancelBackfill, cancelRotaBackfill, testAiInsightsConnection, generateInsight, getDefaultPrompt } from '../api'
import type { AppSetting, Department } from '../types'
function fmtDate(iso: string | null): string {
@@ -26,14 +26,16 @@ export default function SettingsPage() {
const [testMessage, setTestMessage] = useState('')
const [genStatus, setGenStatus] = useState<'idle' | 'generating' | 'done' | 'error'>('idle')
const [genMessage, setGenMessage] = useState('')
+ const [defaultPrompt, setDefaultPrompt] = useState('')
useEffect(() => {
- Promise.all([getSettings(), getSyncStatus()])
- .then(([settRes, statusRes]) => {
+ Promise.all([getSettings(), getSyncStatus(), getDefaultPrompt()])
+ .then(([settRes, statusRes, promptRes]) => {
const map: Record = {}
for (const s of settRes.settings as AppSetting[]) map[s.key] = s.value
setSettings(map)
setSyncStatus(statusRes)
+ setDefaultPrompt(promptRes.prompt)
// Parse saved departments if present
if (map.departments) {
@@ -63,6 +65,7 @@ export default function SettingsPage() {
{ key: 'ai_insights_schedule_time', value: settings.ai_insights_schedule_time ?? '07:15' },
{ key: 'ai_insights_daily_token_budget', value: settings.ai_insights_daily_token_budget ?? '5000' },
{ key: 'ai_insights_manual_context', value: settings.ai_insights_manual_context ?? '' },
+ { key: 'ai_insights_prompt_instructions', value: settings.ai_insights_prompt_instructions ?? '' },
])
setSaved(true)
setTimeout(() => setSaved(false), 2000)
@@ -362,6 +365,33 @@ export default function SettingsPage() {