> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.anpord.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Versions and channels

> How a prompt id turns into the content your caller receives

## Prompts

A prompt has an id you choose, such as `support-reply`. The id is how every caller addresses it, so it stays fixed while the content behind it changes.

Ids are lowercase alphanumeric and may contain `/`, `_`, or `-`, up to 255 characters. That lets you group them by path: `checkout/upsell`, `email/welcome`.

## Versions

Content is versioned. `update` appends a version rather than replacing one, so every earlier version stays readable and a bad change is one promotion away from being undone.

Versions are numbered from 1 and carry an optional message describing why the content changed. The message is worth writing — it is what someone reading the history months later has to work from.

## Channels

A channel is a named pointer at a version. Callers ask for a channel rather than a number, so the number can change without them.

Every prompt gets `production`, and a `get` with no selector resolves it. Promoting to a name that does not exist yet creates it:

```ts theme={null}
await anpord.prompts.promote({
  id: "support-reply",
  channel: "staging",
  version: 6,
});
```

Now the same prompt answers differently depending on who asks:

```ts theme={null}
await anpord.prompts.get({ id: "support-reply" });                      // production
await anpord.prompts.get({ id: "support-reply", channel: "staging" });  // version 6
```

Which suits running a new prompt against internal traffic while customers keep receiving the version you trust:

```ts theme={null}
const channel = process.env.NODE_ENV === "production" ? "production" : "staging";

const prompt = await anpord.prompts.get({ id: "support-reply", channel });
```

Channel names are lowercase alphanumeric and may contain `_` or `-`, up to 36 characters. Name them after the audience, not the version: `production`, `staging`, `beta`.

## Resolution

`get` takes at most one selector, and they are checked in this order:

<Steps>
  <Step title="A version, if you gave one">
    `{ id, version: 3 }` returns exactly version 3. The response reports no channel, because you addressed the version directly.
  </Step>

  <Step title="A channel, if you gave one">
    `{ id, channel: "staging" }` returns whichever version that channel points at.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Production otherwise">
    `{ id }` resolves the `production` channel.
  </Step>
</Steps>

A version wins over a channel when both are given.

The response names the channel that answered, so you can log which version a caller actually received:

```ts theme={null}
const prompt = await anpord.prompts.get({ id: "support-reply" });

prompt.version; // 4
prompt.channel; // "production"
```

## The latest channel

`latest` always resolves the highest version:

```ts theme={null}
await anpord.prompts.get({ id: "support-reply", channel: "latest" });
```

It is derived from the version table rather than stored, so it cannot fall out of step with it. Useful in development, and a poor choice in production.

<Warning>
  Do not point production traffic at `latest`. Every edit ships the moment it is written, with no review and nothing to roll back to.
</Warning>

## Archiving

Archiving hides a prompt from listings. Callers pinned to a version keep resolving it, so archiving never breaks something already running.