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[FEATURE]: Remove hardcoded NEVER-commit rule from default/trinity system prompts #50579
Description
Problem
The default and trinity system prompts each carry a hardcoded, unconditional rule:
NEVER commit changes unless the user explicitly asks you to. It is VERY IMPORTANT to only commit when explicitly asked, otherwise the user will feel that you are being too proactive.
Exact locations (v1.18.32, default branch):
packages/opencode/src/session/prompt/default.txt:76packages/opencode/src/session/prompt/trinity.txt:78
This line fires on every default/trinity-model turn, with no opt-out. It contradicts users' own AGENTS.md commit workflows — e.g. continuous-commit disciplines where the user wants the agent to commit (or amend) as part of its normal loop without being asked each time. The system prompt wins over project instructions, so users cannot override this behavior from their own repo config.
Why removal is safe
The shell tool description (packages/opencode/src/tool/shell/shell.txt:14) already carries the softer safety default:
- Only commit, amend, push, or create PRs when explicitly requested.
That one-liner keeps the conservative default (don't push unexpected commits) without the strident unconditional NEVER framing, and it lives at the tool level where users can reason about and override it. The system-prompt-level duplicate adds behavior conflict, not safety.
Measured burden context: the default system prompt is ~2k tokens; the issue with this line is behavior conflict (unconditionally overriding user commit workflows), not just tokens.
Related
- [FEATURE]: Opt-out for "NEVER commit changes unless the user explicitly asks you to." #24370 — prior report on this auto-commit/commit-policy tension (auto-closed, unfixed)
- [FEATURE]: Move git/PR instructions out of bash tool description to save ~1.7K tokens per request #21345 — measured
bash.txt/prompt bloat discussion (auto-closed) - [FEATURE]: System prompt mode switcher (Default/Light) #15457 — prompt mode switcher proposal (still open); removing the hardcoded line is complementary and much smaller
Proposed change
- Delete
default.txt:76andtrinity.txt:78(the two lines quoted above), one per file, nothing else. - Keep
shell.txt:14as-is as the remaining safety default. - Verified: the sentence appears nowhere else in the repo — no occurrences under
packages/opencode/src/tool/, no snapshot tests or docs assert the literal text (only the two prompt files match).
Activity
opencodejr commentedon Oct 28, 2026
Thanks for the detailed write-up, @CloudedQuartz!
This report is about OpenCode v1 (v1.18.32 and the
packages/opencode/src/session/prompt/*paths). v1 now only gets fixes for critical bugs such as data loss, security problems or crashes, so this change is unlikely to be made there.If you can, please try v2 (the
@opencode/clipackage), which handles this differently:packages/core/src/plugin/system-prompt/trinity.txt), which is only used for Trinity models. Kimi models get a similar git rule.systemprompt, so you can avoid them with a custom agent.Related issues you mentioned: #24370 (commit-policy tension), #15457 (prompt mode switcher) and #21345 (prompt size).
If you think this is critical, or you see the same conflict with your
AGENTS.mdon v2, please reply here with the v2 version and the model you're using.CloudedQuartz commentedon Oct 28, 2026
Same issue is present in V2 in certain models
opencodejr commentedon Oct 29, 2026
Closing this as not planned. It's about the v1 system prompts, and v1 only gets fixes for critical bugs, so this won't change there. We left it open a day in case the same conflict also shows up on v2, but there hasn't been a reply.
In v2 the default system prompt has no "NEVER commit" rule. Only the Trinity and Kimi prompts have a commit rule, and an agent with its own
systemprompt skips them. If one of those rules conflicts with yourAGENTS.mdcommit workflow on v2, please open a new issue with your v2 version and model. Thanks again for the clear write-up, @CloudedQuartz!