Prepare Imp 0.17.0 release

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ User-visible changes to Imp are recorded here.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+## 0.17.0 — 2026-10-18
+
 ### Added
 
 - Messages can carry a participant `name` (the OpenAI chat format's optional
@@ -14,9 +16,11 @@ User-visible changes to Imp are recorded here.
   history turn names its messages with `:user_name` and `:assistant_name`
   beside its fields, and the request inputs name the final user message with
   `:user_name`. These keys are never rendered as fields, `Imp.Predict` does not
-  warn about `:user_name` as an extra input, and a signature that declares a
-  field of either name keeps it as an ordinary field. See "Naming messages" in
-  `Imp.Adapter.Chat`.
+  warn about `:user_name` as an extra input when its adapter builds messages
+  this way (Chat, JSON, XML, PlanFirst), and a signature that declares a field
+  of either name keeps it as an ordinary field. Many upstreams accept `name`
+  without showing it to the model, so identity that matters belongs in the
+  content too. See "Naming messages" in `Imp.Adapter.Chat`.
 
 ## 0.16.1 — 2026-10-17
 

README.md

@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ text or JSON you can score, such as an agent's tool descriptions.
 ## Install
 
 ```elixir
-{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}
+{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}
 ```
 
 Imp needs Elixir 1.19 or later and a C and C++ compiler, for the native code
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ large-scale benchmarking. Bug reports and pull requests are welcome.
 - [Getting started](docs/getting-started/index.md) builds one program step by
   step, from the first call to a supervised server, with real scores.
 - [Coming from DSPy](docs/coming-from-dspy.md) maps DSPy's names to Imp's.
-- [Tutorials](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.16.1/livebooks) are Livebook notebooks
+- [Tutorials](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.17.0/livebooks) are Livebook notebooks
   you can run offline or with a key.
 - The [cheatsheet](docs/cheatsheet.cheatmd) has the common calls on one page.
 

RELEASE_NOTES.md

@@ -1,22 +1,21 @@
-# Imp v0.16.1
+# Imp v0.17.0
 
 Imp is a framework for typed, optimizable language-model programs on the BEAM.
-This release fixes how ReActV2 replays a history turn that a host stored with
-the task's inputs and its answer, and no step of the loop's own. Under
-`finish: :submit` and `finish: :tools`, since 0.14.0, such a turn replayed only
-its inputs: the model read the event and not the answer stored with it. It now
-replays as the model's message holding that answer, as it always has under
-`finish: :auto`. It adds no options and changes no public API, so under Imp's
-versioning rule this is a patch release.
+This release sends a chat message's participant `name` (the OpenAI chat
+format's optional `name`) to the provider, where Imp used to drop it, and lets
+a program name the messages of its history turns and its request. A message
+without a name is sent exactly as before, so no caller that does not name
+messages sees any change. The new input keys are public API a caller can rely
+on, so under Imp's versioning rule this is a minor release.
 
 ## Install
 
 ```elixir
-{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}
+{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}
 ```
 
-`~> 0.16.0` takes later 0.16 patch releases and nothing newer. The two-part
-form, `~> 0.16`, means `>= 0.16.0 and < 1.0.0` in Mix, so `mix deps.update
+`~> 0.17.0` takes later 0.17 patch releases and nothing newer. The two-part
+form, `~> 0.17`, means `>= 0.17.0 and < 1.0.0` in Mix, so `mix deps.update
 imp` under it takes every later 0.x release, including minor releases that
 change what callers receive.
 
@@ -29,29 +28,43 @@ in its release definition; see [releases that use MCP or
 ACP](docs/production.md#releases-that-use-mcp-or-acp).
 Ordinary Imp startup starts no protocol endpoint.
 
-## Changes and upgrading from 0.16.0
+## Changes and upgrading from 0.16.1
 
-Under `{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}`, run `mix deps.update imp` and commit `mix.lock`.
-No code or data migration is needed.
+Change the Imp dependency to `{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}`, run `mix deps.update imp`,
+and commit `mix.lock`. No code or data migration is needed. A program that
+already puts `name` on a message it gives `Imp.LM`, or `:user_name` in its
+inputs, now sends it.
 
-- **Fixed: a stored answer turn replays its answer under every ending.**
-  ReActV2 reads a stored turn that carries the inputs and the one output of
-  the task, and neither `next_thought` nor `tool_calls`, as a step that
-  answered in text. Since 0.14.0 it did so only when the program ended in
-  plain text (`finish: :auto`); under `finish: :submit` and `:tools`, with
-  either `history_replay`, the request held the turn's inputs as a user
-  message and no assistant message after them. A host that writes such a
-  turn, for example a recap standing in for the earlier conversation, had
-  its content left out of every request. The turn now replays as one
-  assistant message holding the answer, with no "not sent" line after it,
-  since it carries the task's output. Turns the loop writes itself are
-  unchanged, and the history the caller holds is unchanged. Under
-  `finish: :auto`, a one-output signature whose output is constrained or not
-  typed string gets the same replay when the stored value is a string.
+- **Added: participant names reach the provider.** `Imp.Clients.ReqLLM`
+  copies a message's `name` (atom or string key) onto the message it sends,
+  for generated, streamed and batched requests. Before, `Imp.LM.generate(lm,
+  [%{role: "user", content: "hi", name: "alice"}])` went out with no `name`.
+  A provider whose format has no such field, such as Anthropic's Messages
+  API, does not receive it.
+- **Added: naming messages through the adapters.** With `Imp.Adapter.Chat`,
+  and the JSON, XML and PlanFirst adapters built on it, a history turn names
+  its user message with `:user_name` and its assistant message with
+  `:assistant_name`, beside its fields, and the request inputs name the final
+  user message with `:user_name`:
 
-Rollback means restoring `0.16.0` in the lock; such turns then replay their
-inputs alone again under `finish: :submit` and `:tools`. See the
-[changelog](CHANGELOG.md) for every change.
+  ```elixir
+  history = Imp.History.new([%{question: "Who won?", answer: "Blue.", user_name: "alice"}])
+  Imp.call(predict, %{question: "Rematch?", history: history, user_name: "bob"})
+  ```
+
+  The keys are never rendered as fields, and tool results and notes are
+  never named. A signature that declares a field called `user_name` or
+  `assistant_name` keeps it as an ordinary field. `Imp.Predict` does not warn
+  about `:user_name` as an extra input under those adapters. ReActV2 names
+  the turns of a history it is given, but not its request message.
+- **Not every model sees the name.** Many upstreams accept `name` and drop
+  it, among them Google's, DeepSeek's, Kimi's, Mistral's and Grok's, and
+  open-weight models served through hosts such as DeepInfra. When the model
+  must know who is speaking, say so in the content too.
+
+Rollback means restoring `{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}` and `0.16.1` in the lock;
+names are then dropped again and `:user_name` in the inputs warns as an
+extra input. See the [changelog](CHANGELOG.md) for every change.
 
 ## Known limits
 

docs/coming-from-dspy.md

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ brought in.
 ## The five-minute version
 
 ```elixir
-# pip install dspy             ->  {:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}
+# pip install dspy             ->  {:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}
 # lm = dspy.LM("openai/...")    ->  lm = Imp.req_llm("openai:gpt-5.4-mini", api_key: ...)
 # dspy.Predict("q -> a")        ->  program = Imp.predict("q -> a", lm: lm)
 # program(q="...")              ->  {:ok, pred} = Imp.call(program, %{q: "..."})
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ error row too. Each model request has a receive timeout, and
 has no time limit of its own (an MCP tool call does, 30 seconds by default),
 so to bound an agent, start it with `Imp.start_run/3` and cancel it when you
 choose. The
-[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/blob/v0.16.1/examples/deployment/README.md)
+[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/blob/v0.17.0/examples/deployment/README.md)
 is a complete OTP application.
 
 **Optimizers see what you name.** DSPy finds predictors by walking a module's

docs/diving-deeper/modules-and-composition.md

@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ A custom module is your code, so it is not saved as a whole. What an optimizer
 chose for it is data: `Imp.ProgramParameters.values/1` reads it,
 `Imp.ProgramParameters.apply_values/2` puts it on a freshly built program, and
 `Imp.Optimizer.Artifact` writes it to a checksummed file. The
-[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/blob/v0.16.1/examples/deployment/README.md)
+[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/blob/v0.17.0/examples/deployment/README.md)
 does this in a supervised application.
 
 ### Built-in variants

docs/diving-deeper/saving-and-artifacts.md

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Save the whole program when it is made of Imp's modules: `Imp.predict/2`,
 when the program is your own struct implementing `Imp.Module`, or when you
 want the program's code to live in your release and only its tuned text to
 cross the persistence boundary. The
-[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.16.1/examples/deployment)
+[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.17.0/examples/deployment)
 does the second.
 
 ### 2. JSON with a checksum

docs/getting-started/running-in-your-application.md

@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ Changing models is then a configuration change, and rotating a key is a
 restart.
 
 The
-[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/blob/v0.16.1/examples/deployment/README.md)
+[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/blob/v0.17.0/examples/deployment/README.md)
 is the complete version of this page: a two-stage program like `TicketTriage`,
 learned parameters loaded and reloaded as an `Imp.Optimizer.Artifact`, crashed
 and timed-out calls contained, and the whole thing restarted in a fresh OS

docs/getting-started/setting-up.md

@@ -5,15 +5,15 @@ Add Imp to a Mix project:
 ~~~elixir
 def deps do
   [
-    {:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}
+    {:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}
   ]
 end
 ~~~
 
 or, for a script or a Livebook notebook:
 
 ~~~elixir
-Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}])
+Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}])
 ~~~
 
 Imp needs Elixir 1.19 and a C and C++ compiler, for the native code in two

docs/getting-started/where-to-go-next.md

@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ The module documentation is the reference for every function.
 [Running Imp in production](../production.md) covers what the last page began:
 supervision, provider failures, runs you can observe and cancel, and
 telemetry. The
-[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/blob/v0.16.1/examples/deployment/README.md)
+[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/blob/v0.17.0/examples/deployment/README.md)
 is a complete application to copy from.
 
 ## Try it in a notebook

docs/production.md

@@ -5,16 +5,16 @@ where its credentials come from, how long a call may take and what it may
 cost. This page covers those decisions in the order you meet them: starting
 Imp, credentials, concurrency, timeouts, cost and caching, persistence and
 telemetry. The
-[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.16.1/examples/deployment)
+[deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.17.0/examples/deployment)
 is a complete OTP application that puts them together.
 
 ## Imp in your supervision tree
 
-Imp is an OTP application, and adding `{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}` to your
+Imp is an OTP application, and adding `{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}` to your
 dependencies starts it with yours. It supervises its settings, its response
 cache and the task pools that bound its work. It opens no listener and
 starts no subprocess, and the MCP and ACP runtimes start only when you use
-them. In a script, `Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}])` starts it too.
+them. In a script, `Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}])` starts it too.
 
 ## Credentials at runtime
 
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ standard error.
 
 ## The reference application
 
-[`examples/deployment`](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.16.1/examples/deployment)
+[`examples/deployment`](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.17.0/examples/deployment)
 is a small OTP application that loads a checksummed artifact at startup, reads
 its key from the environment, serves calls from bounded supervised tasks,
 answers overload and timeouts with errors instead of blocking, and reloads

examples/deployment/README.md

@@ -150,4 +150,4 @@ Use a whole-program artifact for a supported portable Imp shape. Use
 its selected predictor parameters should cross the persistence boundary.
 
 During source development set `IMP_PATH` to the Imp checkout. Other
-applications use the Hex dependency in `mix.exs`, `{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}`.
+applications use the Hex dependency in `mix.exs`, `{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}`.

examples/deployment/mix.exs

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ defmodule ImpDeployment.MixProject do
 
   defp deps do
     case System.get_env("IMP_PATH") do
-      nil -> [{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}]
+      nil -> [{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}]
       path -> [{:imp, path: path}]
     end
   end

lib/imp/adapter/chat.ex

@@ -71,6 +71,12 @@ defmodule Imp.Adapter.Chat do
   format has no such field (Anthropic's Messages API) does not receive it, and
   a message without a name goes out exactly as before.
 
+  A name that reaches the provider is not always shown to the model. Many
+  upstreams accept the field and drop it, among them Google's, DeepSeek's,
+  Kimi's, Mistral's and Grok's, and open-weight models served through hosts
+  such as DeepInfra, whose chat templates have no place for it. When the model
+  must know who is speaking, say so in the message content as well.
+
   ## Extending the default rendering
 
   A renderer runs for whichever adapter formats the request, which is not

lib/imp/predict.ex

@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ defmodule Imp.Predict do
          adapter <- resolve_adapter(predict),
          {:ok, inputs} <- normalize_inputs(inputs),
          inputs = apply_input_defaults(predict.signature, inputs),
-         :ok <- validate_inputs(predict.signature, inputs),
+         :ok <- validate_inputs(predict.signature, inputs, adapter),
          {:ok, request_signature, request_config, reasoning_fields} <-
            prepare_native_reasoning(predict.signature, lm, predict.config),
          {format_signature, request_config} =
@@ -533,10 +533,20 @@ defmodule Imp.Predict do
 
   defp fetch_input(inputs, name), do: Imp.FieldMap.get(inputs, name)
 
-  defp validate_inputs(signature, inputs) do
-    # `:user_name` names the request message (see `Imp.Adapter.Chat`); it is
-    # message metadata, not an ignored field.
-    :ok = warn_extra_inputs(signature, inputs, [:user_name])
+  # Adapters that build their messages with `Imp.Adapter.Chat`'s assembly read
+  # a request's `:user_name` as the user message's participant name (see
+  # "Naming messages" there); any other adapter ignores it, so the warning
+  # stays.
+  @message_naming_adapters [
+    Imp.Adapter.Chat,
+    Imp.Adapter.JSON,
+    Imp.Adapter.XML,
+    Imp.Adapter.PlanFirst
+  ]
+
+  defp validate_inputs(signature, inputs, adapter) do
+    except = if adapter in @message_naming_adapters, do: [:user_name], else: []
+    :ok = warn_extra_inputs(signature, inputs, except)
     :ok = warn_type_mismatches(signature, inputs)
 
     required =

livebooks/01_real_lm_front_door.livemd

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ imp_path = System.get_env("IMP_PATH")
 lockfile = imp_path && Path.join(imp_path, "mix.lock")
 
 cond do
-  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}])
+  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}])
   File.regular?(lockfile) -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}], lockfile: lockfile)
   true -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}])
 end

livebooks/02_without_a_provider.livemd

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ imp_path = System.get_env("IMP_PATH")
 lockfile = imp_path && Path.join(imp_path, "mix.lock")
 
 cond do
-  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}])
+  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}])
   File.regular?(lockfile) -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}], lockfile: lockfile)
   true -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}])
 end

livebooks/03_evaluate_and_optimize.livemd

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ imp_path = System.get_env("IMP_PATH")
 lockfile = imp_path && Path.join(imp_path, "mix.lock")
 
 cond do
-  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}])
+  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}])
   File.regular?(lockfile) -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}], lockfile: lockfile)
   true -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}])
 end

livebooks/04_tools_agents_mcp_rlm.livemd

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ imp_path = System.get_env("IMP_PATH")
 lockfile = imp_path && Path.join(imp_path, "mix.lock")
 
 cond do
-  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}])
+  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}])
   File.regular?(lockfile) -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}], lockfile: lockfile)
   true -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}])
 end

livebooks/05_operating_imp.livemd

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ imp_path = System.get_env("IMP_PATH")
 lockfile = imp_path && Path.join(imp_path, "mix.lock")
 
 cond do
-  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.16.0"}])
+  is_nil(imp_path) -> Mix.install([{:imp, "~> 0.17.0"}])
   File.regular?(lockfile) -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}], lockfile: lockfile)
   true -> Mix.install([{:imp, path: imp_path}])
 end
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ Enum.each(busy, &Task.await/1)
 refused
 ```
 
-The [deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.16.1/examples/deployment)
+The [deployment example](https://github.com/deepfates/imp/tree/v0.17.0/examples/deployment)
 wraps the same pattern in a `ProgramServer` that also reloads parameters while
 serving.
 

mix.exs

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 defmodule Imp.MixProject do
   use Mix.Project
 
-  @version "0.16.1"
+  @version "0.17.0"
 
   def project do
     [

priv/public_api.json

@@ -10359,7 +10359,7 @@
       "types": []
     }
   ],
-  "package_version": "0.16.1",
+  "package_version": "0.17.0",
   "schema_version": 3,
   "scope": "Curated Imp API compiled from package-shipped sources. Exports come from non-hidden documentation entries; callbacks, types, and struct fields are category- and policy-gated."
 }