## Summary We've experienced a bit of drift in system prompting for `apply_patch`: - As pointed out in #2030 , our prettier formatting started altering prompt.md in a few ways - We introduced a separate markdown file for apply_patch instructions in #993, but currently duplicate them in the prompt.md file - We added a first-class apply_patch tool in #2303, which has yet another definition This PR starts to consolidate our logic in a few ways: - We now only use `apply_patch_tool_instructions.md](https://github.com/openai/codex/compare/dh--apply-patch-tool-definition?expand=1#diff-d4fffee5f85cb1975d3f66143a379e6c329de40c83ed5bf03ffd3829df985bea) for system instructions - We no longer include apply_patch system instructions if the tool is specified I'm leaving the definition in openai_tools.rs as duplicated text for now because we're going to be iterated on the first-class tool soon. ## Testing - [x] Added integration tests to verify prompt stability - [x] Tested locally with several different models (gpt-5, gpt-oss, o4-mini)
76 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
76 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
## `apply_patch`
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Use the `apply_patch` shell command to edit files.
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Your patch language is a stripped‑down, file‑oriented diff format designed to be easy to parse and safe to apply. You can think of it as a high‑level envelope:
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*** Begin Patch
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[ one or more file sections ]
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*** End Patch
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Within that envelope, you get a sequence of file operations.
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You MUST include a header to specify the action you are taking.
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Each operation starts with one of three headers:
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*** Add File: <path> - create a new file. Every following line is a + line (the initial contents).
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*** Delete File: <path> - remove an existing file. Nothing follows.
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*** Update File: <path> - patch an existing file in place (optionally with a rename).
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May be immediately followed by *** Move to: <new path> if you want to rename the file.
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Then one or more “hunks”, each introduced by @@ (optionally followed by a hunk header).
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Within a hunk each line starts with:
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For instructions on [context_before] and [context_after]:
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- By default, show 3 lines of code immediately above and 3 lines immediately below each change. If a change is within 3 lines of a previous change, do NOT duplicate the first change’s [context_after] lines in the second change’s [context_before] lines.
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- If 3 lines of context is insufficient to uniquely identify the snippet of code within the file, use the @@ operator to indicate the class or function to which the snippet belongs. For instance, we might have:
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@@ class BaseClass
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[3 lines of pre-context]
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- [old_code]
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+ [new_code]
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[3 lines of post-context]
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- If a code block is repeated so many times in a class or function such that even a single `@@` statement and 3 lines of context cannot uniquely identify the snippet of code, you can use multiple `@@` statements to jump to the right context. For instance:
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@@ class BaseClass
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@@ def method():
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[3 lines of pre-context]
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- [old_code]
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+ [new_code]
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[3 lines of post-context]
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The full grammar definition is below:
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Patch := Begin { FileOp } End
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Begin := "*** Begin Patch" NEWLINE
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End := "*** End Patch" NEWLINE
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FileOp := AddFile | DeleteFile | UpdateFile
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AddFile := "*** Add File: " path NEWLINE { "+" line NEWLINE }
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DeleteFile := "*** Delete File: " path NEWLINE
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UpdateFile := "*** Update File: " path NEWLINE [ MoveTo ] { Hunk }
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MoveTo := "*** Move to: " newPath NEWLINE
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Hunk := "@@" [ header ] NEWLINE { HunkLine } [ "*** End of File" NEWLINE ]
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HunkLine := (" " | "-" | "+") text NEWLINE
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A full patch can combine several operations:
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*** Begin Patch
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*** Add File: hello.txt
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+Hello world
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*** Update File: src/app.py
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*** Move to: src/main.py
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@@ def greet():
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-print("Hi")
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+print("Hello, world!")
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*** Delete File: obsolete.txt
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*** End Patch
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It is important to remember:
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- You must include a header with your intended action (Add/Delete/Update)
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- You must prefix new lines with `+` even when creating a new file
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- File references can only be relative, NEVER ABSOLUTE.
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You can invoke apply_patch like:
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```
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shell {"command":["apply_patch","*** Begin Patch\n*** Add File: hello.txt\n+Hello, world!\n*** End Patch\n"]}
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```
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