PIM

PIM (Prompt Instruction Manager) is a command-line utility for managing prompt instructions and related files from multiple sources. Think of it as a package manager for AI prompts and instructions.

Why PIM?

PIM solves common challenges when working with AI prompts and instructions across projects:

📝 Instructions as Code

Define your instructions once in a dedicated repository, then reuse them across multiple projects. Keep your AI prompts version-controlled, reviewable, and maintainable just like your code.

🧩 Modular Instruction Management

Split large instruction files into smaller, focused components. PIM automatically merges and concatenates them into a single file, making complex prompt systems easier to maintain and understand.

🔄 Subscribe to External Prompt Libraries

Pull instructions and prompts from external repositories like github/awesome-copilot. Stay up-to-date with community best practices and organizational standards.

🏢 Enterprise Governance

Perfect for organizations managing multiple repositories. Centralize prompt governance, ensure consistency across teams, and maintain compliance with organizational standards in multi-repo setups.

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/hubblew/pim.git
cd pim
make install

This will install the pim binary to $GOPATH/bin (usually ~/go/bin).

Quick Start

1. Create instruction files:

mkdir -p prompts
echo "You are a helpful assistant." > prompts/system.txt
echo "Follow best practices." > prompts/user.txt

2. Create a pim.yaml configuration file:

version: 1

targets:
  - name: prompts
    output: .github/copilot-instructions.md
    include:
      - "prompts/system.txt"
      - "prompts/user.txt"

3. Run PIM:

pim install

Note: After running pim install, .github/copilot-instructions.md becomes a managed file. To modify it, update the source files (e.g., prompts/system.txt, prompts/user.txt) and run pim install again, rather than editing the output file directly.

Use Cases

Use Case 1: Reusable Instructions Across Projects

Create a central repository of prompts and reuse them across multiple projects:

# In your shared prompts repository: github.com/myorg/ai-prompts
# prompts/
#   ├── code-review.md
#   ├── documentation.md
#   └── testing.md

# In each project's pim.yaml
version: 1

sources:
  - name: org-prompts
    url: github.com/myorg/ai-prompts

targets:
  - name: copilot-instructions
    output: .github/copilot-instructions.md
    include:
      - "@org-prompts/prompts/code-review.md"
      - "@org-prompts/prompts/documentation.md"

Use Case 2: Modular Instruction Files

Split complex instructions into maintainable components that PIM merges automatically:

version: 1

targets:
  - name: combined-instructions
    output: .github/copilot-instructions.md  # .md extension triggers concat strategy
    include:
      - "instructions/base-rules.md"
      - "instructions/coding-style.md"
      - "instructions/security-guidelines.md"
      - "instructions/project-specific.md"
# Results in a single file with all instructions concatenated

Use Case 3: Subscribe to Community Prompts

Stay updated with best practices from community repositories:

version: 1

sources:
  - name: awesome-copilot
    url: github.com/github/awesome-copilot
  - name: org-standards
    url: github.com/myorg/engineering-standards

targets:
  - name: ai-instructions
    output: .github/copilot-instructions.md
    include:
      - "@awesome-copilot/prompts/best-practices.md"
      - "@org-standards/ai/code-quality.md"
      - "@org-standards/ai/security.md"
      - "docs/project-context.md"

Use Case 4: Multi-Repo Governance

Ensure consistent AI behavior across organizational repositories:

# Central governance repo: github.com/myorg/ai-governance
# governance/
#   ├── security-requirements.md
#   ├── code-standards.md
#   └── compliance.md

# Each team repository uses:
version: 1

sources:
  - name: governance
    url: github.com/myorg/ai-governance

targets:
  - name: copilot-setup
    output: .github/copilot-instructions.md
    include:
      - "@governance/governance/security-requirements.md"
      - "@governance/governance/code-standards.md"
      - "@governance/governance/compliance.md"
      - ".github/team-guidelines.md"

Usage

Commands

• pim install [directory] - Fetch files from sources to targets (defaults to current directory)
• pim version - Print version information
• pim help - Show help

Configuration

PIM looks for pim.yaml or .pim.yaml in the current directory (or the directory specified as an argument).

Basic Configuration

version: 1

sources:
  - name: local-prompts
    url: /path/to/prompts
  - name: shared-repo
    url: github.com/user/prompts-repo

targets:
  - name: my-project
    output: prompts/
    include:
      - "@local-prompts/system.txt"
      - "@local-prompts/user.txt"
      - "@shared-repo/templates/common.txt"

Strategy Examples

Flatten strategy (default for directories) - All files copied to output root:

targets:
  - name: prompts
    output: output/
    strategy: flatten  # This is the default for directories
    include:
      - "prompts/system.txt"
      - "prompts/user.txt"
      - "deep/nested/file.txt"
# Result:
# output/
#   ├── system.txt
#   ├── user.txt
#   └── file.txt

Preserve strategy - Maintains directory structure:

targets:
  - name: prompts
    output: output/
    strategy: preserve
    include:
      - "prompts/system.txt"
      - "prompts/user.txt"
      - "deep/nested/file.txt"
# Result:
# output/
#   ├── prompts/
#   │   ├── system.txt
#   │   └── user.txt
#   └── deep/
#       └── nested/
#           └── file.txt

Concat strategy (default for .md/.txt files) - Concatenates all files:

targets:
  - name: combined-prompts
    output: all-prompts.md  # .md or .txt triggers concat by default
    include:
      - "prompts/system.txt"
      - "prompts/user.txt"
# Result: Single file
# all-prompts.md

Minimal Configuration

The working_dir source is automatically available and points to the current directory:

version: 1

targets:
  - name: local-files
    output: output/
    include:
      - "file1.txt"
      - "file2.txt"

Configuration Options

Sources:

• name - Unique identifier for the source
• url - Local directory path or Git repository URL
  • Local: /absolute/path or ./relative/path
  • Git: github.com/user/repo

Special Sources:

• working_dir - Automatically added, points to current working directory

Targets:

• name - Target name
• output - Directory where files will be copied, or file path for concatenation
• strategy - How to organize copied files (optional, auto-detected)
  • flatten - Remove subdirectories, copy all files to output root (default for directories)
  • preserve - Maintain original directory structure
  • concat - Concatenate all files into a single output file (default for .md/.txt outputs)
• include - List of file paths to include
  • Format: "path/to/file.txt" for local files (from working_dir source)
  • Format: "@source-name/path/to/file.txt" for files from other sources
  • Wildcards: Supports *, ?, and [...] patterns (e.g., "prompts/*.md", "@source/docs/[a-z]*.txt")

Development

Running Tests

make test          # Run all tests
make test-verbose  # Run tests with verbose output

Building

make build  # Build the binary
make clean  # Remove build artifacts

License

See LICENSE file for details.

Documentation

For detailed specification, see SPEC.md.

Awesome Lists

• Awesome Copilot
• Contains Studio AI Agents