feat(js/core): add overwrite option in definePrompt

[7hokerz]

Description here... Help the reviewer by:

• Added an overwrite flag to avoid displaying excessive log messages
• Current Genkit implementation primarily focuses on static declarations during app initialization.
  (In my personal backend development, I faced a problem with excessive logging during the dynamic prompt management process, especially when applying changes post-initialization.)

Checklist (if applicable):

• PR title is following https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/
• Tested (manually, unit tested, etc.)
• Docs updated (updated docs or a docs bug required)

[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

Hello, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request introduces an overwrite option to the definePrompt and defineAction mechanisms, addressing a common issue in dynamic application environments where re-registering prompts or actions can lead to excessive logging. By allowing developers to explicitly permit overwriting existing definitions, this change provides greater flexibility for managing application configurations post-initialization, particularly in scenarios involving hot-reloading or dynamic updates, without cluttering logs with warnings about duplicate registrations.

Highlights

• Introduced overwrite option: A new overwrite boolean option has been added to the PromptConfig and ActionParams interfaces, allowing explicit control over re-registration behavior.
• Enabled dynamic prompt/action registration: The definePrompt and defineAction functions now accept and pass this overwrite option to the underlying registry mechanisms.
• Suppressed duplicate registration warnings: The Registry class's registerAction and registerActionAsync methods now check the overwrite flag, preventing error logs when re-registering actions or prompts if overwrite is true.

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Changelog

• js/ai/src/prompt.ts
  • Added overwrite?: boolean to the PromptConfig interface.
  • Modified definePrompt to pass the new options.overwrite parameter to definePromptAsync.
  • Updated definePromptAsync to accept an overwrite?: boolean parameter and pass it to the registry.registerActionAsync calls.
• js/core/src/action.ts
  • Added overwrite?: boolean to the ActionParams interface.
  • Modified defineAction to pass config.overwrite to the registry.registerAction method.
  • Updated defineActionAsync to accept an opts?: { overwrite?: boolean } parameter and pass it to registry.registerActionAsync.
• js/core/src/registry.ts
  • Updated the opts parameter in registerAction and registerActionAsync methods to include overwrite?: boolean.
  • Modified the duplicate registration check (this.actionsById.hasOwnProperty(key)) in both registerAction and registerActionAsync to only log an error if opts?.overwrite is not true.

Activity

• No specific activity (comments, reviews, progress updates) has been recorded for this pull request yet.

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request introduces an overwrite option to definePrompt to suppress log messages when re-defining prompts, which is particularly useful for dynamic prompt management. The changes are well-plumbed through definePrompt, defineAction, defineActionAsync, and into the Registry methods registerAction and registerActionAsync. The core logic correctly uses the overwrite flag to conditionally log errors for duplicate registrations.

I have one suggestion regarding the API design of defineActionAsync to improve clarity and prevent potential misuse. Overall, this is a solid improvement.

[MichaelDoyle]

@7hokerz can you speak more to the use case, and why you want/need to register the same prompt multiple times?

I wonder if we should just change the log level from error to warn or even info, and let you filter out the appropriate log level instead. cc @pavelgj

[7hokerz]

@MichaelDoyle , Thanks for reply.
I am implementing a backend feature that allows prompts to be modified and applied in real-time without requiring a server restart in my company project. The execution flow is:
​A prompt is modified and saved to the database.
​definePrompt is immediately called to update the prompt definition in memory for the running application.

When definePrompt is executed to update an existing prompt, it generates an overwrite warning or log.
The overwrite logs are definitely helpful for preventing errors. However, I’ve noticed they can clutter the console when updates are intentional.

[7hokerz]

@MichaelDoyle, @pavelgj, Could you please look over the comment I left?

[MichaelDoyle]

@7hokerz if I understand the PR, we're adding an overwrite flag, however, it's only purpose is to flag whether or not a log is written; the registry behavior is unchanged?

If that's the case, I think this is a bit confusing and we're better off just adjusting the log level to warn, so you can more easily filter it out.

[7hokerz]

@MichaelDoyle , Oh, I think your approach is simpler and more efficient than the current PR. However, my intention was to allow developers to explicitly determine whether the behavior is an error or not through the overwrite option.
I agree with changing it to 'warn,' but personally, I feel that if only this change is made, my intentions ultimately won't be incorporated into the bigger picture.

[7hokerz]

@MichaelDoyle In that case, would it be best to actually add special logic regarding overwriting here?