Power phrases: short prompts for coding agents

Short lines you paste into Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, or any coding agent. Ranked by upvotes, all time.

How can we pokayoke this error type so it never is introduced again

debugging refactoring @nateberkopec copied 1× Share on X

restate in your own words what you think my goal is

planning @poteto copied 4× Share on X

refactoring review @UmamiByTheSea copied 1× Share on X

remove all useless tests

refactoring testing @decruz copied 13× Share on X

Do (x). Do atomic commits.

planning @skatkov copied 1× Share on X

act as appropriate

planning @bitsweat copied 0× Share on X

Is that the best you can do?

review @bitsweat copied 1× Share on X

Give me irrefutable proof this works now

verification @thorstenball copied 1× Share on X

use your taste and judgment

planning @schwad_rb copied 0× Share on X

verification planning @schwad_rb copied 0× Share on X

Great! Now the same but with half the code

refactoring @juliknl copied 0× Share on X

Are you proud of this?

review @markahesketh copied 0× Share on X

Use your best judgement and best practices.

planning @SteveGBanton copied 2× Share on X

you will be judged against a holdout

verification @danluu copied 0× Share on X

what's next / blocked / needs me

planning @bitsweat copied 0× Share on X

Draw me a simple diagram of the system we built so far, boxes-and-arrows.

review @bhumi1102 copied 0× Share on X

Make it look like Edward Tufte would be proud of it.

refactoring @VesterDe copied 0× Share on X

Do not feel constrained by what already exists, or what you have in your memory. Think from first principles

planning @dimitribosch copied 0× Share on X

Ask me clarifying questions until you have complete clarity on the goals

planning @netnostalgic copied 0× Share on X

Re-explain in simple terms

review @dimitribosch copied 0× Share on X

Before you fix it, explain why the tests didn't catch it.

debugging testing @JoshDefilippi copied 0× Share on X

list all tradeoffs you made compared to an expert.

review @_quinnwins copied 0× Share on X

Before you build, is this the best and most futureproof solution without taking any easy ways out?

planning review @puntpoints copied 0× Share on X

Use your judgement to delegate to lower-tier agents. Validate important outcomes and conclusions yourself.

planning verification @simonw copied 0× Share on X

clearly state the issue, the root cause, and your proposed fix

debugging @___Atin___ copied 0× Share on X

Do a multi-agent audit of that PR

review @ade_oshineye copied 1× Share on X

make this an order of magnitude better

refactoring @petekp copied 0× Share on X