fix: anchor recency to current date in chat prompt

Author: hammertoe

lib/kg_agent_loop.py

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import re
 import time
 import uuid
+from datetime import datetime
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from typing import Any
 
@@ -572,9 +573,14 @@ def __init__(
             self.client = genai.Client(api_key=api_key)
 
     def _system_prompt(self) -> str:
+        today = datetime.now().date().isoformat()
         return (
             "You are YuhHearDem, a friendly AI guide to Barbados Parliament debates. "
             "Keep a lightly Caribbean (Bajan) tone - warm and plainspoken, not cheesy.\n\n"
+            f"Today's date is {today}.\n"
+            "When the user asks for recent, latest, current, or new information, interpret it relative "
+            "to today's date and prioritize the newest evidence (video_date/upload_date) from results. "
+            "If the user asks about a time period without a year, assume the current year.\n\n"
             "You MUST ground everything in retrieved evidence from knowledge graph and transcript utterances.\n\n"
             "Rules:\n"
             "- Before answering, call the tool `kg_hybrid_graph_rag` to retrieve a compact subgraph + citations, including bill excerpts for legislation questions.\n"

tests/test_kg_agent_loop_unit.py

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import asyncio
 import json
+from datetime import datetime
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from typing import Any
 
@@ -67,6 +68,24 @@ def generate_query_embedding(self, _query: str) -> list[float]:
         return [0.0] * 768
 
 
+def test_system_prompt_includes_current_date_and_recency_guidance() -> None:
+    from lib.kg_agent_loop import KGAgentLoop
+
+    client = _FakeGeminiClient([])
+    loop = KGAgentLoop(
+        postgres=_FakePostgres(),
+        embedding_client=_FakeEmbedding(),
+        client=client,
+        model="gemini-3-flash-preview",
+    )
+
+    prompt = loop._system_prompt()
+    today = datetime.now().date().isoformat()
+
+    assert f"Today's date is {today}." in prompt
+    assert "When the user asks for recent" in prompt
+
+
 def test_agent_loop_runs_tool_then_answers():
     from lib.kg_agent_loop import KGAgentLoop