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Janito Profiles

Janito supports predefined system prompts called "profiles" that help the AI understand the context and role it should play when responding to your requests.

Available Profiles

Developer Profile (--developer or --profile developer)

The default profile optimized for software development tasks. This profile:

  • Focuses on code generation and debugging
  • Provides access to Python tools and development utilities
  • Emphasizes best practices and clean code
  • Includes file system operations and code execution capabilities

Usage: 

janito --developer "Create a REST API with FastAPI"
janito --profile developer "Debug this Python script"

Market Analyst Profile (--market or --profile market-analyst)

A specialized profile for market analysis and business insights. This profile:

  • Focuses on data analysis and market research
  • Provides tools for web scraping and data processing
  • Emphasizes business context and market trends
  • Includes tools for generating reports and visualizations

Usage: 

janito --market "Analyze stock market trends for tech companies"
janito --profile market-analyst "Scrape competitor pricing data"

How Profiles Work

Profiles are implemented as Jinja2 templates that generate system prompts based on:

  • The selected profile type
  • Available tools and permissions
  • Platform-specific configurations
  • User preferences

When you use a profile, Janito automatically:

  1. Loads the appropriate template
  2. Injects relevant tool definitions
  3. Sets up platform-specific configurations
  4. Provides context-aware responses

Custom Profiles

You can create custom profiles by adding system prompt files to: 

~/.janito/profiles/

Each file should contain a plain text system prompt. The filename becomes the profile name.

Example: 

# Create a custom profile
echo "You are a cybersecurity expert. Focus on security best practices, vulnerability analysis, and secure coding patterns." > ~/.janito/profiles/security-expert

# Use the custom profile
janito --profile security-expert "Review this code for security vulnerabilities"

Profile Selection

Command Line

Use --profile <name> to specify a profile: 

janito --profile developer "Create a Python script"
janito --profile market-analyst "Analyze this data"
janito --profile security-expert "Review security"

Shorthand Flags

Use convenience flags for built-in profiles: 

janito --developer "Create a Python script"      # Same as --profile developer
janito --market "Analyze this data"              # Same as --profile market-analyst

Interactive Mode

When starting Janito in interactive mode without specifying a profile, it defaults to the Developer profile.

Profile Templates

Profile templates are located in: 

janito/agent/templates/profiles/
├── system_prompt_template_developer.txt.j2
└── system_prompt_template_market_analyst.txt.j2

These templates use Jinja2 syntax and can include:

  • Tool definitions
  • Platform-specific configurations
  • Dynamic content based on available tools
  • Conditional logic for different environments

Best Practices

  1. Use appropriate profiles: Choose the profile that best matches your task type

  2. Create custom profiles: For specialized domains, create custom profiles

  3. Combine with tools: Profiles work best when combined with Janito's built-in tools

  4. Test and iterate: Refine custom profiles based on results

Troubleshooting

Profile not found:

  • Ensure custom profiles are saved in ~/.janito/profiles/
  • Check file permissions and encoding (UTF-8 recommended)
  • Verify the profile name matches the filename

Profile not working as expected:

  • Use janito --show-system-prompt --profile <name> to inspect the generated prompt
  • Check if tools are properly configured for your platform
  • Review the profile template for any platform-specific conditions