Prompt and Policy Changes

A prompt or skill revision changes agent policy. Review that revision like a code change.

Record the hypothesis, compare fixed cases, inspect failures, and define rollback before release.

Decision

Does this instruction revision improve the named behavior without a material regression?

Change one policy variable and compare it with the current version.

Contract

Name the behavior

State the required result and constraints.

Revision

Keep the exact text

Store content and a stable digest.

Comparison

Use fixed cases

Keep task and grading conditions unchanged.

Rollback

Define the trigger

State which result restores the prior version.

1. Control the comparison

Use these controls before you collect or compare results.

Contract

Write the task contract first

An instruction cannot be correct when the required behavior is undefined.

Name the actor and action

List constraints

Define refusal behavior

Evidence

Separate instructions from data

Mark user content, documents, examples, and tool results as untrusted data.

Use explicit sections

Restrict tool permissions

Test instruction conflicts

Review

Keep the change small

A small revision makes the cause of a result easier to explain.

Change one policy goal

Keep model conditions fixed

Record the exact diff

Decision

Bind the decision to evidence

Store accepted and rejected revisions with their comparison results.

Review changed failures

Name the decision owner

Keep the rollback rule

2. Use the procedure

Complete each step in order. Stop when a required input or control is missing.

Write the hypothesis

State the expected behavior change and risk.

Save the current version

Record the instruction text and content digest.

Prepare the cases

Use representative cases and known failure examples.

Create one revision

Change only the instruction needed for the hypothesis.

Compare both versions

Use the same cases, model, tools, and graders.

Record the decision

Accept, reject, or request more evidence.

3. Keep the evidence

Store enough evidence for another reviewer to repeat the decision.

Record	Required evidence	Failure signal
Hypothesis	Expected change and named risk	The revision has no purpose
Policy versions	Exact text, digest, and author	The comparison input is unknown
Cases	Fixed identifiers and versions	Each version used different cases
Results	Group scores and changed failures	Only the aggregate score remains
Decision	Owner, reason, and rollback rule	The revision cannot be governed

4. Keep the product boundary

Do not ask for hidden reasoning or chain-of-thought.
Do not let untrusted content change system instructions or tool permissions.
Do not accept a revision because one demonstration looks better.
Do not overwrite the prior version or its evaluation record.

5. Apply this on Versalist

Create the evaluation contract

Define the cases and graders before you compare instruction versions.

Read Agent Evaluation

Version a reusable skill

Use a skill bundle when the policy must move across agents or environments.

Read skill documentation

Release gate

Make the decision explicit

Publish only when the fixed comparison supports the hypothesis and the rollback rule is ready.

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