Prompt templating

Stable tier (recommended default)

These values change at most once per day and are the best default for reusable prompts.

{{ now_year }}integer

Current year as a 4-digit string. Example: 2026.

{{ now_quarter }}string

Q1 to Q4. Example: Q2.

{{ now_month }}string

Zero-padded month (01 to 12). Example: 05.

{{ now_month_name }}string (English)

English month name. Example: May.

{{ now_month_name_local }}string (locale-aware)

Localised month name using inferada.language. Falls back to English when language is unset or unrecognised. Examples: mei (nl), mai (fr).

{{ now_iso_week }}string

ISO 8601 week tag. Example: 2026-W18.

{{ now_date }}string

YYYY-MM-DD UTC date. Example: 2026-05-02.

{{ now_day }}string

Day of month, no padding (1 to 31).

{{ now_day_of_week }}string (English)

English weekday name. Example: Saturday.

{{ now_day_of_week_local }}string (locale-aware)

Localised weekday using inferada.language. Falls back to English. Examples: zaterdag (nl), samedi (fr).

Hourly tier

These values change once per hour. Use them when the prompt needs time-of-day context.

{{ now_hour }}string

UTC hour as 00 to 23. Example: 14.

{{ now_iso_hour }}string

Hour-precision ISO 8601. Example: 2026-05-02T14Z.

Per-request tier (cache-busting)

These values change every minute or second. Use them only when the task needs that precision, because early changes in a system prompt can reduce upstream prefix-cache reuse.

{{ now_time }}string

HH:mm UTC. Example: 14:23 UTC.

{{ now_iso }}string

Second-precision ISO 8601 UTC. Example: 2026-05-02T14:23:11Z.

{{ now_unix }}string

Epoch seconds as a string. Example: 1777989791.

Model & caller facts

{{ model_provider }}string

API format of the selected upstream, such as openai, anthropic, or google.

{{ user_timezone }}string

IANA timezone the wall-clock now_* fields are expressed in. Resolves from inferada.timezone on the request body when present, otherwise from the caller user’s profile setting (Profile → Settings), otherwise UTC. Always set; defaults to "UTC".

The wall-clock now_* fields above (everything except now_iso, now_iso_hour, and now_unix, which stay UTC because they describe an instant) reflect the caller's active timezone. Set it per request with { "inferada": { "timezone": "America/Sao_Paulo" } } on the request body, or per-user under Profile → Settings.

Dot-path and bracket-index access

Nested data from the haystack processor is available through dot paths and numeric bracket indices:

• Path segments must be snake_case identifiers (lowercase, digits, underscore, starting with a letter). {{ haystack.customer.name }} resolves; raised-case JS-style access does not.
• Bracket indices accept positive integers only: {{ haystack.orders[0].total }}. Out-of-bounds and non-numeric brackets leave the placeholder literal.
• Resolution reads plain data properties only. Identifiers such as constructor and __proto__ are rejected, and there is no expression evaluator: you cannot call methods or access globals.

Resolved values stringify automatically: primitives become their String() form, arrays become compact JSON, objects become 2-space-indented JSON. null and missing values render as empty string and an unmatched template literal respectively.

Worked example

The same intent, three ways:

"Today is {{ now_date }}."cache rolls over once per day

Recommended. The rendered prefix stays stable through the current calendar day.

"It is {{ now_iso_hour }}."cache rolls over once per hour

Use when the response depends on the current hour. The rendered prefix remains stable within that hour.

"The current time is {{ now_iso }}."cache rolls over every request

Use for relative-time calculations that require the current instant. Prefer the date for general temporal context.

Prefer simple templates

Plain {{ var }} substitutions are easier to review and have predictable failure behaviour. Add @if or @each only when the model default needs conditional content.

Render failure mode

Escaping literal {{

If you genuinely need the characters {{ to appear in the rendered output (for example, in instructions to the model about how to format a future template), escape them:

• In vars mode: write \{{ and the gateway emits a literal {{.
• In logic mode (Edge): use Edge's convention @{{ … }} for a literal.

Add the current date

You are a helpful assistant. Today is {{ now_date }} ({{ now_day_of_week }}).
When the user asks about events or deadlines, anchor your reasoning to that date.

The rendered value changes once per day, so it is suitable for a reusable prompt prefix.

Provider-aware tone

You are running on {{ model_provider }}. Format mathematical expressions in
plain text rather than markdown, since rendering varies by client.

Localised greeting

Begin your response with a friendly greeting in the user's language.
Today is {{ now_day_of_week_local }} {{ now_day }} {{ now_month_name_local }}.

Pair the _local variants with inferada.language on the request: pass language: "nl" and you'll get zaterdag 2 mei instead of Saturday 2 May.

Add time-of-day context

The current hour is {{ now_hour }} UTC. If you reference work hours,
assume European business time (08–18 UTC).

This is the hourly tier: it rolls over once per hour, so the cache stays effective within the hour.

What a Servada-authored logic template looks like

An example of what logic mode can do (Servada authors this for you on request; you can't put logic into your own request body):

Today is {{ now_date }}.

@if(model_provider === 'anthropic')
You are running on Anthropic Claude. Lean on extended thinking when the user asks for
multi-step reasoning.
@else
You are running on {{ model_provider }}. Keep responses concise.
@endif