Implementation:Wandb Weave Prompt Iterate Pattern

Knowledge Sources	Wandb Weave Weave Docs
Domains	Prompt_Engineering, Versioning
Last Updated	2026-02-14 00:00 GMT

Overview

Pattern documentation for iterating on prompts through publish-modify-republish cycles using the Wandb Weave library.

Description

This is a Pattern Doc documenting the iterative prompt development workflow. It uses weave.publish() repeatedly with the same name to create new versions. The same publish API from Object Publishing is reused; the pattern is in the workflow, not the API.

Usage

Follow this pattern throughout the prompt engineering lifecycle to maintain a complete version history of all prompt iterations.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: wandb/weave
• File: weave/trace/api.py
• Lines: L118-178 (publish — same as Prompt Publishing)

Signature

# The pattern uses the same publish() API:
def publish(obj: Any, name: str | None = None) -> ObjectRef:
    """Each publish with the same name creates a new version
    if the content hash differs."""

Import

import weave

I/O Contract

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
obj	Prompt	Yes	Modified prompt object
name	str	Yes	Same name as previous version

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
return	ObjectRef	Reference with new digest for the updated version

Usage Examples

Iterate on a Prompt

import weave

weave.init("my-team/my-project")

# Version 1
prompt_v1 = weave.StringPrompt(content="Translate '{text}' to {language}.")
ref1 = weave.publish(prompt_v1, name="translation_prompt")

# Version 2 - improved
prompt_v2 = weave.StringPrompt(
    content="You are an expert translator. Translate the following text to {language}:\n\n{text}"
)
ref2 = weave.publish(prompt_v2, name="translation_prompt")

# Access specific versions
latest = weave.ref("translation_prompt").get()       # v2
v1 = weave.ref(f"translation_prompt:{ref1._digest}").get()  # v1

Related Pages

Implements Principle

• Principle:Wandb_Weave_Prompt_Versioning

Requires Environment

• Environment:Wandb_Weave_Python_SDK_Runtime