Core Concepts

Fundamental concepts that apply across all PromptKit components.

Overview

These concepts are building blocks used throughout PromptKit. Understanding them helps you work effectively with Runtime, SDK, PromptArena, and PackC.

Available Concepts

Prompts

Learn about prompts, prompt engineering, and how PromptKit handles prompts across components.

Templates

Understand template systems, variable substitution, and template management with PackC.

Providers

Learn about LLM providers, how PromptKit abstracts them, and multi-provider strategies.

Validation

Understand content validation, guardrails, and safety measures across the platform.

State Management

Learn about conversation state, session management, and persistence strategies.

Tools & MCP

Understand function calling, tool integration, and the Model Context Protocol.

How Concepts Work Together

User Input
    ↓
[Prompt Template] → Combine system prompt + user message
    ↓
[Validation] → Check content safety
    ↓
[State Management] → Load conversation history
    ↓
[Provider] → Send to LLM (with Tools if needed)
    ↓
[Validation] → Check response safety
    ↓
[State Management] → Save conversation
    ↓
Response

Why Learn Concepts?

Understanding these concepts helps you:

• Make better design decisions - Know when to use each feature
• Debug effectively - Understand what’s happening under the hood
• Build efficiently - Leverage existing patterns and best practices
• Extend PromptKit - Create custom components that fit the architecture

Component-Specific vs Universal

Some concepts are universal across PromptKit:

• ✅ Prompts - Used by all components
• ✅ Providers - Abstracted consistently
• ✅ Validation - Available everywhere

Some concepts are component-specific:

• Templates - Mainly Runtime and PackC
• State Management - Mainly Runtime and SDK
• Tools/MCP - Mainly Runtime

Learning Path

If you’re new to PromptKit:

1. Start with Prompts - The foundation
2. Read Providers - How LLMs work
3. Explore Templates - Organizing prompts
4. Learn State Management - Multi-turn conversations

If you’re building production apps:

1. Validation - Safety and guardrails
2. State Management - Scalable conversations
3. Tools & MCP - Extended capabilities
4. Providers - Multi-provider strategies

Relationship to Other Documentation

Concepts explain what things are and why they exist.

Reference shows how to use APIs.

How-To Guides show how to accomplish tasks.

Tutorials provide step-by-step learning.

Related Documentation

• Getting Started: Quick introduction to PromptKit
• Architecture: System design and structure
• Glossary: Term definitions
• Workflows: End-to-end examples