What is prompt management? Versioning, collaboration, and deployment for prompts

Prompt management is essential for production large language model (LLM) applications due to the frequent changes required in prompts, which can significantly impact user experience and product reliability. By treating prompts as production assets, teams can implement version control, review, testing, and independent deployment from application code, thus reducing risks associated with prompt modifications. This structured approach addresses challenges such as version chaos, deployment friction, and invisible quality degradation by providing a single source of truth, enabling safe and speedy iterations, and facilitating cross-functional collaboration. Braintrust is highlighted as a comprehensive platform that integrates prompt management components, including versioning, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring, to ensure that prompt changes are observable, testable, and reversible. It supports safe deployment through progressive rollout strategies and CI/CD integration, preventing untested or regressive changes from affecting production. As LLM applications mature, prompt management becomes crucial in maintaining quality and scalability, transforming prompts from experimental inputs into reliable production dependencies.