User-facingOracle
Oracle — system instruction + RAG context
Prepends retrieved node context after this block. The model answers only from those nodes.
The Elephant Observatory
AI transparency
System prompts & instructions · as deployed
What we tell the models before your messages arrive — and where to verify changes over time.
Why we publish this
A system prompt is the instruction block a model sees before it reads your question or feedback. It sets tone, constraints, and role: what the model is allowed to do, what it should refuse, and how it should cite or stay within TEO's knowledge base.
We publish these texts so you can judge the product on its merits — not only the glossy surface. If something feels off in the Oracle or Hermes, you can read the same instructions we ship and trace edits in the public repository.
Privacy in plain terms: this page shows our side of the contract — templates and defaults. Your messages to Hermes or the Oracle are not listed here; they are processed according to our Privacy Policy and the terms linked in the footer.
What to look for: grounding and source-first rules (e.g. answer only from retrieved nodes), instructions that resist flattery or false certainty, safety boundaries, and the same structural honesty as our BYOD stance. Placeholder text substituted with live data in production is noted inline where relevant.
Prompt catalog
Each card shows a representative version of the prompt (some entries use sample data where the real call is dynamic). Use View history to see commits that touched the source file.
User-facing
User-facingHermes
Hermes — feedback ferryman
Base system prompt; the API may append identity, patron, node, category, and turn-limit lines.
User-facingChiron / Passages
Chiron — core persona
Injected into every Chiron system prompt before phase-specific sections.
User-facingChiron / Passages
Chiron — frame phase (sample assembly)
Full system prompt shape varies by phase, seeker profile, memories, and withdrawal phase. Representative frame-phase example.
User-facingChiron / Passages
Chiron — threshold phase (sample assembly)
Opening conversation before a passage starts.
User-facingChiron / Passages
Chiron — periodic check-in (sample assembly)
Waypoint dialogue; real prompt includes real encounter history and memory highlights.
User-facingChiron / Passages
Chiron — closing debrief (sample assembly)
Open-ended conversation before final reflection.
User-facingChiron / Passages
Chiron — seeker profile extraction (threshold JSON)
Structured extraction from threshold transcript; not shown to the seeker as-is.
User-facingChiron / Passages
Chiron — theme proposal
Selects a passage theme from available Observatory themes.
User-facingChiron / Passages
Chiron — debrief takeaway extraction
Structured JSON extraction after the debrief dialogue.
Pipeline & infrastructure
Pipelineai-provider
Claude — JSON mode (pipeline / structured extraction)
Anthropic `system` line when jsonMode is true on callModel.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 2 — observer attribution
Identifies all intellectual contributors from metadata and transcript excerpt.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 3 — slicer (single observer, sample)
Built-in prompt when the engine has no custom system_prompt. Range scales with transcript length.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 3 — slicer (multi observer, sample)
Multi-speaker videos; attributes each nugget to an observer name.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 3 — nugget deduplication
Second pass after multi/single extraction when more than one nugget exists.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 4 — tiered descriptions
Generates abstract + apprentice/adept/magus descriptions as JSON.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 5 — glossary extraction
Built-in prompt; engine system_prompt, when set, replaces the opening instruction only.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 6 — confidence score
Rates curatorial quality 0–100 with short reasoning.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 7 — title + subtitle
Replaces placeholder nugget titles with publishable title and subtitle.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 8 — edges
Curates conceptual edges from vector + sibling candidates.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 9 — taxonomy tags
Assigns 2–4 tags from the fixed TEO taxonomy.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 10 — embedding
No chat system prompt. Text is assembled from title, descriptions, and chunk for the embedding API.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 11 — scene brief (image)
Briefs the image model in Orbis Pictus woodcut style.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 11 — image generation prompt
Final prompt to the image model with style and composition rules.
PipelinePipeline
Pipeline step 12 — RPG dimensions
Scores the five epistemic dimensions 0–10.
Admin
AdminThoth
Thoth — base system prompt (admin)
Admin assistant; optional profile and page context are appended when present.
AdminThoth
Thoth — Cartographer mode (admin)
Graph analysis mode with tag and observer tables; uses empty snapshot in preview.