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The system prompt's 'Conversation started:' line carried minute precision
(%I:%M %p), making it byte-unstable across every rebuild path. Within a
CLI session the in-memory cache held, but on the gateway path (fresh
AIAgent per turn → restore from session DB), any silent failure in the
read or write path dropped the cache stem and forced a full re-prefill
on every subsequent turn. Local prefix-caching backends (llama.cpp /
vLLM) saw this as KV-cache invalidation; remote prefix-caching providers
saw it as an Anthropic-style cache miss.
Three changes:
1. Date-only timestamp ('Sunday, May 17, 2026' instead of '... 03:42 PM').
System prompt now byte-stable for the full day. The model can still
query exact time via tools when it actually needs it. Credit:
@iamfoz (PR #20451).
2. Loud logging on session DB write failures. The update_system_prompt
call used to log at DEBUG, hiding disk-full / locked-database / schema
drift behind a silent fall-through that forced fresh rebuilds on
every subsequent turn. Now WARN with the session id and exception so
persistent issues show up in agent.log without verbose mode.
3. Three-way stored-state distinction on read. The previous
'session_row.get("system_prompt") or None' collapsed three states
into one (missing row / null column / empty string). Now we tell them
apart and WARN when a continuing session lands on null/empty (which
means the previous turn's write never persisted — every subsequent
turn rebuilds and the prefix cache misses every time).
The restore block is extracted into _restore_or_build_system_prompt()
so the prefix-cache path can be unit-tested in isolation.
E2E proof: fresh AIAgent constructed for turn 2 across a minute-boundary
sleep restores byte-identical bytes from the session DB. NULL stored
prompt fires the new warning. Date-only timestamp survives the rebuild
path. All on real SessionDB, no mocks.
Tests:
- tests/agent/test_system_prompt_restore.py (10 new tests)
- tests/run_agent/test_run_agent.py::TestBuildSystemPrompt::
test_datetime_is_date_only_not_minute_precision
Closes #20451 (date-only), #18547 (prefix stabilization),
#8689 (stabilize timestamp across compression), #15866 (timestamp
caching question), #8687 (compression timestamp), #27339
(claim #3: live timestamp in cached system prompt).
Co-authored-by: Martyn Forryan <9133432+iamfoz@users.noreply.github.com>
223 lines
9.7 KiB
Python
223 lines
9.7 KiB
Python
"""Tests for ``agent.conversation_loop._restore_or_build_system_prompt``.
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Validates the gateway DB-roundtrip path that keeps the system prompt
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byte-stable across turns (fresh AIAgent → must restore from session DB
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instead of rebuilding). Covers:
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* Successful restore from a stored prompt (present row).
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* Legitimate first-turn build (no history).
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* Silent-failure recovery paths:
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- DB read raises → WARNING + fresh build
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- Row has system_prompt=NULL → WARNING + fresh build
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- Row has system_prompt="" → WARNING + fresh build
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- DB write fails → WARNING (subsequent turns will miss cache)
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"""
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from __future__ import annotations
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import logging
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from unittest.mock import MagicMock
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import pytest
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from agent.conversation_loop import _restore_or_build_system_prompt
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def _make_agent(session_db=None, prebuilt_prompt: str = "BUILT_PROMPT"):
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"""Construct the minimal agent fake the helper needs."""
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agent = MagicMock()
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agent._cached_system_prompt = None
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agent.session_id = "test-session-id"
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agent.model = "test-model"
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agent.platform = "cli"
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agent._session_db = session_db
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agent._build_system_prompt = MagicMock(return_value=prebuilt_prompt)
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return agent
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# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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# Happy paths
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# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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class TestStoredPromptReuse:
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def test_present_row_is_reused_verbatim(self, caplog):
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"""Continuing session with a stored prompt → reuse byte-for-byte."""
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stored = "Stored prompt from turn 1 — byte-identical reuse"
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db = MagicMock()
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db.get_session.return_value = {"system_prompt": stored}
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=db)
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with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING, logger="agent.conversation_loop"):
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
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assert agent._cached_system_prompt == stored
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agent._build_system_prompt.assert_not_called()
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db.update_system_prompt.assert_not_called()
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# No warnings on the happy path
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assert not [r for r in caplog.records if r.levelno >= logging.WARNING]
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def test_present_row_with_unicode_preserved(self):
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"""Non-ASCII bytes in the stored prompt are not mangled."""
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stored = "Stored prompt with unicode: ☤ ⚗ ◆ — and emoji 🦊"
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db = MagicMock()
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db.get_session.return_value = {"system_prompt": stored}
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=db)
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
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assert agent._cached_system_prompt == stored
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# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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# Legitimate fresh-build paths (no history, no DB)
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# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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class TestLegitimateFreshBuild:
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def test_no_history_skips_db_and_builds_fresh(self, caplog):
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"""First turn with empty history → build fresh, don't touch the DB."""
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db = MagicMock()
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=db)
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with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING, logger="agent.conversation_loop"):
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [])
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# No history → DB read skipped entirely
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db.get_session.assert_not_called()
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agent._build_system_prompt.assert_called_once_with(None)
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assert agent._cached_system_prompt == "BUILT_PROMPT"
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# Persisted to DB
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db.update_system_prompt.assert_called_once_with(agent.session_id, "BUILT_PROMPT")
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assert not [r for r in caplog.records if r.levelno >= logging.WARNING]
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def test_no_db_skips_persistence(self):
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"""When session DB is None, build and skip persistence silently."""
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=None)
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [])
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agent._build_system_prompt.assert_called_once()
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assert agent._cached_system_prompt == "BUILT_PROMPT"
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# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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# Silent-failure recovery — these are the new A/B logging paths
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# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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class TestSilentFailureWarnings:
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def test_db_read_exception_warns_and_rebuilds(self, caplog):
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"""DB read raising → WARNING + fall through to fresh build."""
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db = MagicMock()
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db.get_session.side_effect = RuntimeError("disk full")
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=db)
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with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING, logger="agent.conversation_loop"):
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
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# Built fresh
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agent._build_system_prompt.assert_called_once()
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assert agent._cached_system_prompt == "BUILT_PROMPT"
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# Loud warning about the read failure
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warnings = [r for r in caplog.records if r.levelno >= logging.WARNING]
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assert any("get_session failed" in r.getMessage() for r in warnings), \
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f"Expected a get_session warning, got: {[r.getMessage() for r in warnings]}"
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assert any("disk full" in r.getMessage() for r in warnings)
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def test_null_system_prompt_warns_about_unusable_stored_state(self, caplog):
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"""Row exists but system_prompt is NULL → WARNING + fresh build."""
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db = MagicMock()
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db.get_session.return_value = {"system_prompt": None}
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=db)
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with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING, logger="agent.conversation_loop"):
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
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agent._build_system_prompt.assert_called_once()
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warnings = [r.getMessage() for r in caplog.records if r.levelno >= logging.WARNING]
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assert any("is null" in m and "rebuilding" in m for m in warnings), \
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f"Expected null-stored-prompt warning, got: {warnings}"
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def test_empty_system_prompt_warns_about_silent_persistence_bug(self, caplog):
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"""Row exists but system_prompt is '' → WARNING about silent write bug."""
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db = MagicMock()
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db.get_session.return_value = {"system_prompt": ""}
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=db)
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with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING, logger="agent.conversation_loop"):
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
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agent._build_system_prompt.assert_called_once()
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warnings = [r.getMessage() for r in caplog.records if r.levelno >= logging.WARNING]
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assert any("is empty" in m and "rebuilding" in m for m in warnings), \
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f"Expected empty-stored-prompt warning, got: {warnings}"
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def test_db_write_failure_warns_loudly(self, caplog):
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"""update_system_prompt raising → WARNING (was DEBUG before)."""
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db = MagicMock()
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# No prior row (first turn)
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db.get_session.return_value = None
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db.update_system_prompt.side_effect = RuntimeError("database is locked")
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=db)
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with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING, logger="agent.conversation_loop"):
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [])
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# Built and assigned the cache anyway
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agent._build_system_prompt.assert_called_once()
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assert agent._cached_system_prompt == "BUILT_PROMPT"
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# Warning surfaced
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warnings = [r.getMessage() for r in caplog.records if r.levelno >= logging.WARNING]
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assert any(
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"update_system_prompt failed" in m and "database is locked" in m
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for m in warnings
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), f"Expected write-failure warning, got: {warnings}"
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def test_no_history_with_null_row_does_not_warn(self, caplog):
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"""First turn (no history) hitting a null row is not surprising — no warn."""
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db = MagicMock()
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db.get_session.return_value = {"system_prompt": None}
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=db)
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with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING, logger="agent.conversation_loop"):
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# Empty history → DB read is skipped entirely
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [])
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db.get_session.assert_not_called()
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# No "rebuilding from scratch" warning because history is empty
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warnings = [r.getMessage() for r in caplog.records if r.levelno >= logging.WARNING]
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assert not any("rebuilding" in m for m in warnings)
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# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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# Byte-stability invariant
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# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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class TestPromptStabilityInvariant:
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def test_restored_prompt_is_byte_identical_to_stored(self):
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"""The restored prompt must equal the stored bytes exactly — no
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normalization, trimming, or concat that could shift the prefix.
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This is the core invariant: any byte-level change at this point
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invalidates KV cache on every prefix-cache backend.
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"""
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stored = (
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"You are Hermes Agent.\n"
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"\n"
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"Conversation started: Sunday, May 17, 2026\n"
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"Session ID: 20260517_153500_abc123\n"
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)
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db = MagicMock()
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db.get_session.return_value = {"system_prompt": stored}
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agent = _make_agent(session_db=db)
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_restore_or_build_system_prompt(agent, None, [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
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# Identity check — must be the same object reference for maximum
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# confidence we're not slicing/copying/normalizing.
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assert agent._cached_system_prompt == stored
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# Byte-level check
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assert agent._cached_system_prompt.encode("utf-8") == stored.encode("utf-8")
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if __name__ == "__main__":
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pytest.main([__file__, "-v"])
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