Reference · Agentic Gathering

Agentic Gathering Prompt Setup

How Sponic prompt-library records, event configuration, member interviews, extraction, host dossiers, and dinner-session overrides fit together when preparing an Agentic Gathering.

Prepared 2026-05-13 · Sponic Gardens · Related: AI Host, Agentic Gathering Runbook, AI Host MVP devtask

Prompt library Runtime DB prompts Composition gap noted

Contents

Mental model
Current prompt records
Gathering setup flow
Runtime assembly
Admin surfaces
Known gaps

Mental model

A gathering does not have one giant prompt. It has a small set of prompts and runtime context that are assembled at the right moment:

Before dinner: an interview prompt collects member context from each guest.
After each interview: an extraction prompt converts the transcript into a visible profile and host-only dossier.
At dinner start: a host persona prompt defines the AI's identity, tone, and boundaries.
During dinner: a run-of-show prompt defines what the host should do and when.
Per event: live event details, participant dossiers, and optional one-session overrides are appended without changing the canonical prompts.

Current operational truth: PDHA07 now exists as the dinner host script/run-of-show, but the dinner-host runtime still resolves PDHA05 by default. Until runtime composition is wired, operators should use an event-level prompt override when they need PDHA07 included in a live dinner session.

Current prompt records

Code	Name	Purpose	Used by	Status
`PDHA04`	Pre-dinner interview	Phone/voice interview before the event. Collects onboarding context, stories, matching signals, and dinner-specific no-go zones.	Android interview mode via `interviewer` persona. Admin → Interviews chooses the default or per-user override.	Required
`hardcoded`	Transcript extraction	Turns the interview transcript into `user_profiles` and `user_dossiers`.	`extract-host-mvp-profile`, currently as `SYSTEM_INSTRUCTION` in the edge function.	Should move to DB
`PDHA05`	Dinner host persona	Defines who the AI is: warmth, curiosity, voice, boundaries, anti-patterns, and general hosting posture.	`dinner_host` persona in `apps/ai-host/agent.py` and `dinner-host-control/prompt?persona=dinner_host`.	Required
`PDHA07`	Dinner host script + run of show	Defines what the host does: timing, intro, guest intros, anonymous questions, behavior rules, matchmaking, and feedback-session flow.	Prompt library now. Should be composed with `PDHA05` for live dinner sessions.	Composition pending
`PDHA06`	Tea party persona	Alternate multi-guest persona for tea-party style sessions.	`tea_party` persona.	Optional

Gathering setup flow

Confirm the interview prompt.

Use Admin → Interviews to confirm the default interview prompt is PDHA04. Use per-user overrides only for testing variants.

Run pre-dinner interviews.

Each guest completes the Android voice interview. The agent records the resolved prompt metadata on the interview row: prompt name, code, version, record ID, source, and selection reason.

Let extraction produce two artifacts.

extract-host-mvp-profile creates a sanitized visible profile and a richer host-only dossier. The dossier is what the dinner host uses for contextual nudges.

Create or open the dinner event.

In the Dinner Host admin surface, pick the session persona, voice, face, and participants. For a normal Agentic Gathering, the persona should be dinner_host.

Review the active prompt before going live.

The event detail page shows the canonical prompt fetched from the prompt library. If the run-of-show must be included before composition is wired, use the session override to combine PDHA05 plus PDHA07 plus any event-specific notes.

Start the event.

At runtime the AI host appends live participant dossiers to the host prompt using format_dossiers_section. The host should not need to know the raw interview transcript.

Runtime assembly

The target assembled system prompt for a standard dinner should be:

PDHA05 dinner_host_persona

+ PDHA07 dinner_host_script / run_of_show

+ live event context
   - dinner_event date, venue, table, menu, host notes
   - anonymous questions, if collected

+ host-only participant dossiers
   - character sketches
   - public/personal hook comfort levels
   - participant list

+ optional event-level override
   - only for this session
   - saved on dinner_events.instructions_override

The current code path already does database prompt lookup and dossier injection. It still needs one small product decision: whether PDHA07 should always be appended for dinner_host, or whether events should choose a run-of-show prompt explicitly.

Admin surfaces

Surface	Use it for	Do not use it for
Prompts	Editing prompt text. Saving creates a new version and deactivates the previous active row.	Changing which interview prompt a user receives next.
Admin → Interviews	Choosing the global interview default, assigning per-user prompt overrides, and resetting onboarding state.	Editing prompt text.
Dinner Host	Reviewing the active event prompt, setting a session-only override, picking voice/face/persona, and starting/ending the event.	Permanent prompt library edits.

Known gaps

Host prompt composition: PDHA07 is not automatically appended to PDHA05 yet. This should be fixed in runtime code so operators do not manually paste merged prompts.
Extraction prompt ownership: the transcript-to-profile/dossier instruction is still hardcoded in extract-host-mvp-profile. It should become a prompt-library record with version history.
Event-specific prompt choices: dinner events currently have a freeform session override, but not explicit selectors for persona prompt, run-of-show prompt, extraction prompt, or feedback prompt.
Feedback-session prompt: PDHA07 includes feedback-session guidance, but a dedicated post-event feedback prompt may be cleaner once that workflow is real.