Why Version Prompts?
- Track changes over time
- Enable rollback if new version breaks
- Coordinate team changes
- Document why changes were made
Semantic Versioning for Prompts
v1.0: First release
v1.1: Bug fix
v2.0: Breaking change
Always document: "v1.1 – fixed hallucinations in date handling"
Git Workflow for Prompts
- 1Create feature branch (feature/better-classification)
- 2Edit and test prompt
- 3Create PR with test results and change log
- 4Review and merge to main
- 5Tag release version in git
Maintain a Changelog
For each version, document: what changed, why, who reviewed, date.
Rollback Process
Keep previous version accessible. If new version fails in production, revert to previous. Investigate failure offline.
Versioning Tools
- Git: Full control, history
- Braintrust: Built-in versioning
- PromptQuorum: Automatic version tracking
- Database: Schema-based versioning
Sources
- Semantic Versioning. semver.org
- GitHub. Version control best practices
- Keep a Changelog. keepachangelog.com
Common Mistakes
- No version numbers (hard to track)
- No rollback plan
- Vague change messages ("updated")
- Not testing before deploying version
- Not communicating version changes to users