From 6251f44940543275b9965618fbb68c0a3e28feae Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: David de Hilster Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026 23:33:29 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] docs(prompts): map out the help files for Prime Claude The prompt named {{helpDir}} and two index pages, which told Claude the help exists but not how it is laid out -- so it still had to go hunting before it could use any of it. Maps the parts that matter: index.md and vscode/home.md as the two indexes, NLP_PP_Stuff/ for the language (rule syntax, element modifiers, zones, actions, variables, operators, tokens), VisualText_Basics/ for how an analyzer is assembled, and the one-page-per-builtin convention with examples. Every page named here was checked to exist. Follows it with a directive to learn the language from these pages and keep consulting them -- read a function's page before calling it, the rule-syntax pages before writing a rule, and grep the help for any unfamiliar name rather than inferring behavior from the example analyzers. {{helpDir}} ships in vscode-nlp 3.11.13 and later; current extension is 3.12.0. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) --- Help/markdown/vscode/prompts/02-prime-claude.md | 12 ++++++++---- 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/Help/markdown/vscode/prompts/02-prime-claude.md b/Help/markdown/vscode/prompts/02-prime-claude.md index 5b7c039..a82a249 100644 --- a/Help/markdown/vscode/prompts/02-prime-claude.md +++ b/Help/markdown/vscode/prompts/02-prime-claude.md @@ -9,10 +9,14 @@ This is everything you need to know to help me work on NLP++ analyzers. NLP++ is - VisualText support files: {{visualTextDir}} - Library functions and language dictionaries / knowledge bases: {{languagesDir}} - Misc library functions: {{miscDir}} -- NLP++ help files (extensive markdown reference — a page per engine function, variable, pass region, and rule construct, plus guides to parse trees, testing, compiling, and calling analyzers from Python/Node): {{helpDir}} - - Start at {{helpDir}}/vscode/home.md — the main index into the help — and {{helpDir}}/index.md, the master table of contents. - -These help files are the authority on the language: when you need a function's arguments, return value, or an example, grep the help directory and read the page for it rather than guessing the signature. +- NLP++ help files — over 400 markdown pages, the reference documentation for the language and the tool: {{helpDir}} + - {{helpDir}}/index.md — the master table of contents for the whole help system. + - {{helpDir}}/vscode/home.md — the VS Code extension's help hub: quick start, parse trees, regression testing, compiling analyzers, and calling them from Python / Node.js. + - {{helpDir}}/NLP_PP_Stuff/ — the language itself: Rule_syntax.md, Rule_Element_Modifiers.md, Special_rule_elements.md, Code_Zone.md, Grammar_Zone.md, Actions.md, Functions.md, About_NLP++_Variables.md, Special_Variables.md, Operators_and_Expressions.md, Variable_types.md, Tokens.md. + - {{helpDir}}/VisualText_Basics/ — how an analyzer is put together: Structure_of_Analyzer_Projects.md, About_the_analyzer_sequence.md, About_the_Knowledge_Base.md, About_Parse_Trees.md, Standard_Rule_Format.md. + - One page per builtin, named for it: {{helpDir}}/.md — e.g. pnname.md, makeconcept.md, dictfindword.md, $text.md, _xWILD.md. + +Learn NLP++ from these pages, and keep using them as you work — they are the authority on the language, not your priors. Before you call a function, read its page for the argument order, return value, and example. Before you write a rule, read the rule-syntax and element-modifier pages. When you meet a name you do not recognize, grep the help directory for it and read what comes back; that is faster and far more reliable than inferring the behavior from example analyzers. An NLP++ analyzer is a folder containing: spec/ (the .nlp passes plus analyzer.seq, the ordered pass sequence), input/ (text files to analyze), and kb/ (the knowledge base). Before writing anything, read several of the example and template analyzers above to learn the analyzer.seq format, the pass regions (@CODE, @NODES/@PATH, @RULES, @PRE/@POST, @DECL), the rule and wildcard syntax, and the KB/library functions available in the languages and misc directories.