config-executable-prompts (Executable Prompts)

This example demonstrates how to use executable scripts and binaries as prompt generators in promptfoo.

To initialize and run it:

npx promptfoo@latest init --example config-executable-prompts
cd config-executable-prompts
promptfoo eval

Prerequisites

• bash/zsh (macOS/Linux) or PowerShell (Windows)
• jq (for the shell example): https://stedolan.github.io/jq/
• Ruby 3.x (for the Ruby example)
• Make scripts executable: chmod +x prompt-generator.sh template-prompt.rb

Overview

Promptfoo supports using any executable (shell scripts, Python scripts, binaries, etc.) to dynamically generate prompts. This is useful when you need to:

• Generate prompts based on external data sources
• Create context-aware prompts dynamically
• Integrate with existing tools and scripts
• Generate prompts in languages other than JavaScript or Python

How It Works

1. Script Input: Your executable receives a JSON context as its first command-line argument containing:

   • vars: Test variables from your configuration
   • provider: Information about the current provider
   • config: Any additional configuration passed to the prompt

2. Script Output: Your script should output the generated prompt to stdout

3. Error Handling:

   • Errors should be written to stderr
   • Non-zero exit codes will cause the prompt generation to fail

Usage Methods

Method 1: Using exec: prefix

prompts:
  - exec:./my-script.sh
  - exec:/usr/bin/custom-prompt-generator

Method 2: Direct file reference (auto-detected)

prompts:
  - ./my-script.sh # Detected by .sh extension
  # Note: Python files (.py) are processed as Python prompt templates by default.
  # To run a Python script as an executable prompt, use the exec: prefix:
  # - exec:./generator.py

Method 3: With configuration

prompts:
  - label: 'Custom Prompt'
    raw: exec:./generator.sh
    config:
      temperature: 0.7
      style: technical
      timeout: 30000 # 30 second timeout (default: 60s)