2.6 KiB
0001: Configuration Ownership At The ConfigKit Handoff
Status
Accepted.
Date
2026-09-30
Context
PromptKit is adopting ConfigKit to standardize configuration semantics and simplify its loading machinery. Configuration includes prompts, profiles, and backend definitions contributed by maintained catalogs and consuming applications. ConfigKit supplies loading, composition, precedence, inheritance, and inspection capabilities. PromptKit supplies LLM-specific interpretation and execution.
A clear handoff assigns each library responsibility for the configuration it owns and keeps validation aligned with the values an application actually uses.
Decision
ConfigKit owns configuration processing up to the handoff of the final effective configuration. PromptKit takes ownership at that handoff and applies its domain interpretation and validation to the final configuration.
The handoff includes effective presence/null information and resource context supplied by ConfigKit. PromptKit uses this information to interpret effective settings and resolve referenced resources.
PromptKit passes through ConfigKit's inspection capabilities for explicit operator use. Configuration history and source explanations serve that inspection purpose; domain validation operates on the final effective values.
This boundary applies uniformly to application configuration and maintained catalog configuration, including backend definitions.
Alternatives Considered
- Independent source or catalog preflight validation: preserves checks on individual contributions, but duplicates configuration processing and evaluates values that may be replaced before handoff. Raw-source and intermediate-state validation are outside PromptKit's scope, including equivalent test-only checks.
- History-based source auditing: can identify overwritten contributions, but couples domain enforcement to configuration history. Historical inspection is an operator capability rather than a validation mechanism.
Consequences
PromptKit's configuration logic and tests focus on the final effective values, their domain meaning, and resulting execution behavior. ConfigKit owns failures arising during its processing, which PromptKit preserves through its error boundary. Catalog maintainers own their repositories' publishing checks.
The adoption work routes backend configuration through the same handoff and retires PromptKit's source-level and intermediate-configuration validation. Effective resource interpretation and explicit operator inspection remain supported. This concentrates configuration semantics in ConfigKit and reduces duplicated machinery and maintenance in PromptKit.