Be specific: say the shape
Please make it nicer, thank you
The signup page came back with new colors, a new layout, a different font and a form that now asked for a postcode. Bob had typed one polite line — "Please can you make the signup page look nicer, thank you!" — and had liked the old header and the short form. He read his message again and saw that he had told the AI nothing about what nicer meant, or what to leave alone.
- The AI fills every gap with its most ordinary guess, confidently, instead of asking you.
- Write prompts like a work request: what's wrong, where in the app, what you tried, what must not change.
- Say what shape you want back: a table, three options, a short list or a summary of what changed.
- For UI, ban look clichés by name (cream backgrounds, italic accents, numbered 01/02 labels, pill buttons) instead of saying "not AI-generated".
- For big choices, ask for options with costs and risks first, and no code yet.
Vague prompt gets A confident guess
Dos and don'ts
- Name the page, what you saw and what must not change; the model will guess confidently rather than say it does not know.
- Name UI patterns you refuse (cream bg, italic accents, 01/02 labels, pills), plus a real reference.
- Ask for 3 options with cost and risks before any code.
- Rely on politeness to make the AI guess right.
- Say only "don't make it look AI-generated" and expect a unique look.
- Say "build it" for big decisions like data or payments.
Say what's wrong, where
An AI fills every gap you leave with its most ordinary guess, confidently, instead of asking. It almost never says "I don't know." So write prompts like a work request: what's broken, where in the app, what you already tried, and what must not change.
State the shape of the answer
Tell the AI how you want the reply: a table, three options, a short list, or a short summary of what changed. It costs nothing and saves you reading a wall of text. If you type "just make it work", add three facts and a format instead.
Ban look clichés by name
"Make it modern" or "don't make it look AI-generated" still leaves a gap, so the model swaps one default look for another. Name the patterns you refuse: a cream or off-white background, italic accent words in headlines, numbered "01 / 02 / 03" section labels, monospace eyebrow labels, or pill-shaped buttons. Positive direction helps too: fonts, palette, one real reference.
Ask for options before code
For a big decision, such as how to store data, take payments or log users in, don't say "build it". The AI will pick one way and start writing, and you won't know the other ways existed.
Ask first: "Give me 3 ways to do this. For each one: how long it takes, what it costs per month, and how it can go wrong. Recommend one. Don't write code yet."
Then you choose, and only then you say "build option 2". Changing your mind now costs one sentence. After the code is written it costs hours.
I need people to sign in before they see their contacts. Before any code: give me 3 ways in a table: how hard to set up, monthly cost, what can go wrong. Pick one and say why. Don't write code yet. Don't change how contacts are saved. Ask me questions about anything I didn't decide.
Dos and don'ts
please fix the login, it's broken, thanks!
After I reset my password, logging in shows "Invalid token". Fix only the login. Do not change how sign-up works.
Paste into your agent inside a project folder. Prompts that say "this project" are for the app you build in the Lab, or any app you already have. No project yet? Read them now and paste them later, in the Lab.
Rewrite this polite vague request into one specific ask: the file, the expected result, what must not change, and the shape of the reply.
Do not write code yet. Give me three ways to show overdue tasks in this project as a table: effort in hours, running cost, how each can fail. Recommend one.
Rewrite my "make it look premium, not AI-generated" ask. Keep my product, ban cream backgrounds, italic headline accents, numbered 01/02/03 labels and pill buttons by name, and add one positive direction (fonts or palette).