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Built-in Prompts

SwissArmyHammer includes a comprehensive set of built-in prompts designed to assist with various development tasks. These prompts use Liquid templating for dynamic, customizable assistance and are organized by category for easy discovery.

Overview

All built-in prompts:

  • Support customizable arguments with sensible defaults
  • Use Liquid syntax for variable substitution and control flow
  • Are organized into logical categories for easy discovery
  • Follow a standardized YAML front matter format

Categories

System Management

are_issues_complete

Check if the plan is complete.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test are_issues_complete

are_reviews_done

Check if all the code review items are complete.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test are_reviews_done

are_tests_passing

Check if all tests are passing.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test are_tests_passing

Issue Management

branch (issue_branch)

Create an issue work branch for the next issue to work

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test branch

issue_complete

Mark an issue as complete

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test issue_complete

Code Development

code/issue (do_issue)

Code up an issue

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test code/issue

code/review

Do Code Review

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test code/review

Version Control

commit

Commit your work to git.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test commit

merge

Merge your work into the main branch.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test merge

Testing & Quality

coverage

Improve coverage.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test coverage

test

Iterate to correct test failures in the codebase.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test test

Debugging

debug/error

Analyze error messages and provide debugging guidance with potential solutions.

Arguments:

  • error_message (required) - The error message or stack trace to analyze
  • language (default: “auto-detect”) - The programming language
  • context (optional) - Additional context about when the error occurs

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test debug/error --arg error_message="TypeError: cannot read property 'name' of undefined" --arg language="javascript"

debug/logs

Analyze log files to identify issues and patterns.

Arguments:

  • log_content (required) - The log content to analyze
  • issue_description (default: “general analysis”) - Description of the issue you’re investigating
  • time_range (default: “all”) - Specific time range to focus on
  • log_format (default: “auto-detect”) - Log format (json, plaintext, syslog, etc.)

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test debug/logs --arg log_content="$(cat application.log)" --arg issue_description="API timeout errors"

Documentation

document

Create documentation for the project

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test document

docs/comments

Add comprehensive comments and documentation to code.

Arguments:

  • code (required) - The code to document
  • comment_style (default: “auto-detect”) - Comment style (inline, block, jsdoc, docstring, rustdoc)
  • detail_level (default: “standard”) - Level of detail (minimal, standard, comprehensive)
  • audience (default: “developers”) - Target audience for the comments

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test docs/comments --arg code="$(cat utils.js)" --arg comment_style="jsdoc" --arg detail_level="comprehensive"

docs/readme

Create comprehensive README documentation for a project.

Arguments:

  • project_name (required) - Name of the project
  • project_description (required) - Brief description of what the project does
  • language (default: “auto-detect”) - Primary programming language
  • features (default: “”) - Key features of the project (comma-separated)
  • target_audience (default: “developers”) - Who this project is for

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test docs/readme --arg project_name="MyLib" --arg project_description="A library for awesome things" --arg features="fast,reliable,easy"

Planning

plan

Generate a step by step development plan from a specification.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test plan

Code Review

review/accessibility

Review code for accessibility compliance and best practices.

Arguments:

  • code (required) - The UI/frontend code to review
  • wcag_level (default: “AA”) - WCAG compliance level target (A, AA, AAA)
  • component_type (default: “general”) - Type of component (form, navigation, content, interactive)
  • target_users (default: “all users”) - Specific user needs to consider

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test review/accessibility --arg code="$(cat form.html)" --arg component_type="form" --arg wcag_level="AA"

review/branch

Review code

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test review/branch

review/code

Review code for quality, bugs, and improvements.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test review/code

review/documentation

Review documentation

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test review/documentation

review/patterns

Perform a comprehensive review of the code to improve pattern use.

Arguments: None

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test review/patterns

review/security

Perform a comprehensive security review of code to identify vulnerabilities.

Arguments:

  • code (required) - The code to review for security issues
  • context (default: “general purpose code”) - Context about the code
  • language (default: “auto-detect”) - Programming language
  • severity_threshold (default: “low”) - Minimum severity to report (critical, high, medium, low)

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test review/security --arg code="$(cat login.php)" --arg context="handles user authentication"

Prompt Management

prompts/create

Help create effective prompts for swissarmyhammer.

Arguments:

  • purpose (required) - What the prompt should accomplish
  • category (default: “general”) - Category for the prompt
  • inputs_needed (default: “”) - What information the prompt needs from users
  • complexity (default: “moderate”) - Complexity level (simple, moderate, advanced)

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test prompts/create --arg purpose="Generate database migrations" --arg category="database"

prompts/improve

Analyze and enhance existing prompts for better effectiveness.

Arguments:

  • prompt_content (required) - The current prompt content (including YAML front matter)
  • improvement_goals (default: “overall enhancement”) - What aspects to improve
  • user_feedback (default: “”) - Any feedback or issues users have reported

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test prompts/improve --arg prompt_content="$(cat my-prompt.md)" --arg improvement_goals="clarity,flexibility"

General Purpose

help

A prompt for providing helpful assistance and guidance to users.

Arguments:

  • topic (default: “general assistance”) - The topic to get help about
  • detail_level (default: “normal”) - How detailed the help should be (basic, normal, detailed)

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test help --arg topic="git workflows" --arg detail_level="detailed"

example

An example prompt for testing.

Arguments:

  • topic (default: “general topic”) - The topic to ask about

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test example --arg topic="testing prompts"

say-hello

A simple greeting prompt that can be customized with name and language.

Arguments:

  • name (default: “friend”) - Name to greet
  • language (default: “english”) - Language for the greeting

Example:

swissarmyhammer prompt test say-hello --arg name="Alice" --arg language="spanish"

Template Partials

These .md files are partial templates used by other prompts for consistency:

  • code.md - Partial template for reuse in other prompts
  • coding_standards.md - Coding Standards template
  • documentation.md - Documentation template
  • empty.md - Empty template
  • principals.md - Principals template
  • review_format.md - Review Format template
  • todo.md - Todo template

Usage Patterns

Basic Usage

# Use a prompt with default arguments
swissarmyhammer prompt test review/code

# Specify custom arguments
swissarmyhammer prompt test debug/error --arg error_message="NullPointerException" --arg language="java"

Piping Content

# Use command substitution to pass file content
swissarmyhammer prompt test docs/comments --arg code="$(cat utils.py)" --arg comment_style="docstring"

# Pipe log content for analysis
cat error.log | xargs -I {} swissarmyhammer prompt test debug/logs --arg log_content="{}" --arg issue_description="memory leak"

Non-Interactive Mode

# Run prompts non-interactively with all arguments specified
swissarmyhammer prompt test help --arg topic="git" --arg detail_level="detailed"

Debugging Prompts

# Use debug mode to see template processing
swissarmyhammer prompt test debug/error --debug --arg error_message="Sample error"

Best Practices

  1. Choose the Right Prompt - Select prompts that match your specific task
  2. Provide Context - Use optional arguments to give more context when available
  3. Combine Prompts - Use multiple prompts in sequence for comprehensive workflows
  4. Test Arguments - Use the test command to verify prompt behavior before using in workflows
  5. Review Output - Always review and validate generated content before using it

Creating Custom Prompts

If the built-in prompts don’t meet your needs:

  1. Use the prompts/create prompt to generate a template
  2. Save it in your ~/.swissarmyhammer/prompts/ directory
  3. Follow the YAML front matter format for consistency
  4. Test with various inputs to ensure reliability

For more information on creating custom prompts, see Creating Prompts.