Problem
The MNE assistant's system prompt lacks information about which data modalities and specialized submodules MNE supports. This leads to two failure modes observed in mne-tools/mne-python#13702:
-
False negatives: The assistant claims MNE doesn't support something it does (e.g., "MNE-Python doesn't have built-in functions specifically for converting eyetracking pixels to visual angle" when mne.preprocessing.eyetracking.convert_units exists).
-
Overconfident wrong answers: Instead of saying "I'm not sure, let me search," the assistant confabulates plausible-sounding but incorrect answers (e.g., claiming the BDF status channel is "automatically parsed" when it is not).
Proposed Changes
1. Add supported data types and submodules to system prompt
The system prompt mentions MEG, EEG, sEEG, ECoG, and NIRS but omits newer/specialized modalities. Add:
## Supported Data Types and Specialized Modules
MNE-Python supports these data modalities and has specialized submodules:
- **MEG**, **EEG**, **sEEG**, **ECoG**, **NIRS**, **Eye-tracking**
When users ask about these topics, ALWAYS search the docstring database before answering.
2. Improve uncertainty handling in the prompt
Add explicit instructions for when the assistant is unsure:
## When You Are Unsure
- If your tools return no relevant results for a question, say "I wasn't able to find documentation on this specific topic" rather than generating an answer from general knowledge
- NEVER claim MNE does or does not support something without first searching the docstring and documentation databases
- If a search returns partial results, present what you found and note what you couldn't verify
3. Add eyetracking tutorials to documentation sources
The config has no eyetracking tutorials in the documentation list. Add:
- title: Working with eye-tracking data
url: https://mne.tools/stable/auto_tutorials/preprocessing/90_eyetracking_data.html
category: preprocessing
description: Processing and analyzing eye-tracking data with MNE-Python.
Acceptance Criteria
References
Problem
The MNE assistant's system prompt lacks information about which data modalities and specialized submodules MNE supports. This leads to two failure modes observed in mne-tools/mne-python#13702:
False negatives: The assistant claims MNE doesn't support something it does (e.g., "MNE-Python doesn't have built-in functions specifically for converting eyetracking pixels to visual angle" when
mne.preprocessing.eyetracking.convert_unitsexists).Overconfident wrong answers: Instead of saying "I'm not sure, let me search," the assistant confabulates plausible-sounding but incorrect answers (e.g., claiming the BDF status channel is "automatically parsed" when it is not).
Proposed Changes
1. Add supported data types and submodules to system prompt
The system prompt mentions MEG, EEG, sEEG, ECoG, and NIRS but omits newer/specialized modalities. Add:
2. Improve uncertainty handling in the prompt
Add explicit instructions for when the assistant is unsure:
3. Add eyetracking tutorials to documentation sources
The config has no eyetracking tutorials in the documentation list. Add:
Acceptance Criteria
References