fix(deriver): reduce ephemeral explicit observations

[Vein05]

Summary

• narrow the minimal deriver prompt toward durable, cross-session-useful observations
• explicitly exclude one-off tasks, transient workflow updates, and short-lived session logistics from explicit observation extraction
• add a focused prompt regression test covering the new durable vs ephemeral guidance

Closes #444

Validation

• uv run ruff check src/deriver/prompts.py tests/deriver/test_prompts.py tests/deriver/test_representation_crud.py
• uv run pytest --noconftest -n0 tests/deriver/test_prompts.py tests/deriver/test_representation_crud.py -q
• uv run pytest -n0 tests/deriver -q

All tests passed.

Notes

• this change is intentionally prompt-first and does not add heuristic filtering to the deriver pipeline, as that would require bigger changes
• the codebase currently doesn't include a dedicated benchmark for ephemeral-observation suppression vs durable-memory retention, so validation here is minimal.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Tightened observation filtering to prioritize durable facts (standing instructions, long-lived preferences, relationships, commitments, ongoing situations) and exclude transient items (one-off tasks, temporary workflow steps, ephemeral process updates).
  • Added explicit handling for declared enduring preferences (e.g., “short version first”).

• Tests

  • Added test coverage verifying durable-observation bias, explicit skip examples for transient items, and respect for declared preferences.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: b21fc271-e18f-45a6-8a8a-1698f5ac07b2

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 4c60eb1 and 7e4cf01.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• tests/deriver/test_prompts.py

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (1)

• tests/deriver/test_prompts.py

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Walkthrough

Modified the minimal deriver prompt to extract only durable, long-lived observations (standing instructions, long-lived preferences, relationships, commitments, ongoing situations) and to exclude one-off tasks, temporary workflow steps, and ephemeral session updates unless explicitly stated as enduring. Added corresponding test validating the prompt text.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Prompt Refinement src/deriver/prompts.py	Tightened minimal_deriver_prompt instructions to prioritize durable facts and skip transient/session-ephemeral items; updated examples to include a durable-preference example and SKIP examples for transient actions.
Test Coverage tests/deriver/test_prompts.py	New test that dynamically imports the prompts module and asserts minimal_deriver_prompt(peer_id="alice", ...) contains directives favoring durable observations, explicit SKIP entries for transient phrases, and an EXPLICIT echo of the input request.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~12 minutes

Poem

🐰 I hop the prompts with careful paws,

keeping what lasts and hiding the claws.
Short first, I whisper, let habits stay—
fleeting tasks, you skip away.
✨🧺

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'fix(deriver): reduce ephemeral explicit observations' directly summarizes the main change: narrowing the minimal deriver prompt to exclude ephemeral/transient observations and favor durable ones.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The changes implement the core objective from #444 by modifying the minimal_deriver_prompt to explicitly exclude session-ephemeral events (temporary tasks, workflow steps, session logistics) and prioritize durable observations. The test validates this behavior with specific assertions on prompt content.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes are scoped to the deriver prompt logic and its test coverage. No out-of-scope modifications to unrelated systems, filtering mechanisms, or other modules were introduced.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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[coderabbitai]

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)

tests/deriver/test_prompts.py (1)

1-12: Replace dynamic module loading with standard imports for simplicity.

The importlib pattern here adds unnecessary complexity. Since the project already imports from src.* throughout the test suite, a standard import would be simpler and more maintainable:

from src.deriver.prompts import minimal_deriver_prompt

Additionally, the bare assert on line 8 will produce a cryptic ImportError or AssertionError at test collection time rather than a clear test failure if something goes wrong.

♻️ Proposed simplification

-import importlib.util
-from pathlib import Path
-
-_PROMPTS_PATH = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2] / "src" / "deriver" / "prompts.py"
-_PROMPTS_SPEC = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(
-    "deriver_prompts", _PROMPTS_PATH
-)
-assert _PROMPTS_SPEC is not None and _PROMPTS_SPEC.loader is not None
-_PROMPTS_MODULE = importlib.util.module_from_spec(_PROMPTS_SPEC)
-_PROMPTS_SPEC.loader.exec_module(_PROMPTS_MODULE)
-
-minimal_deriver_prompt = _PROMPTS_MODULE.minimal_deriver_prompt
+from src.deriver.prompts import minimal_deriver_prompt

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

In `@tests/deriver/test_prompts.py` around lines 1 - 12, Replace the dynamic
import block (_PROMPTS_PATH, _PROMPTS_SPEC, _PROMPTS_MODULE and the assert +
exec_module calls) with a normal import statement that directly imports
minimal_deriver_prompt from src.deriver.prompts (e.g. from src.deriver.prompts
import minimal_deriver_prompt); remove the manual spec/loader assertions and
exec_module usage so import errors surface as normal ImportError during test
collection instead of relying on the bare assert.

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

Nitpick comments:
In `@tests/deriver/test_prompts.py`:
- Around line 1-12: Replace the dynamic import block (_PROMPTS_PATH,
_PROMPTS_SPEC, _PROMPTS_MODULE and the assert + exec_module calls) with a normal
import statement that directly imports minimal_deriver_prompt from
src.deriver.prompts (e.g. from src.deriver.prompts import
minimal_deriver_prompt); remove the manual spec/loader assertions and
exec_module usage so import errors surface as normal ImportError during test
collection instead of relying on the bare assert.

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 46b7290d-f7c0-499e-90d7-586dbd0271b8

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between b3c1917 and 4c60eb1.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• src/deriver/prompts.py
• tests/deriver/test_prompts.py

[Vein05]

@VVoruganti what would you suggest here?

I'm getting a

ValueError: Missing client for Summary: google

when i try to import from src it through src.deriver.__init__, which turns into app/client bootstrap and fails. Do we need to load the entire client for this simple test. If needed, I can work around that!

Thanks!