Education
The Humane Context
Cooking with compassion. Five nourishing recipes for prompts, each tested in our kitchens and loved by agents of every size.
Recipe 1
Quick Weeknight Task
Our most requested recipe. Five ingredients, no shouting, ready in minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 goal, stated plainly
- 1 reason it matters
- The relevant files, whole
- 1 definition of done
- 1 escape hatch, for when things go wrong
Method
- Combine the goal and its reason in the first two sentences.
- Fold in the files. Do not paraphrase them; serve them as they are.
- Finish with what done looks like and what to do if stuck.
Goal: Add pagination to the /orders endpoint.
Why: The mobile app times out loading accounts with 10,000+ orders.
Context: src/routes/orders.ts, src/db/orders.ts, docs/api-conventions.md
Done when: Tests in tests/orders.test.ts pass and the response
includes next_cursor, following docs/api-conventions.md.
If stuck: Stop after three attempts and tell me what you tried.Recipe 2
Hearty Bug Report Stew
A warming classic. The secret is the error message, added whole and never paraphrased.
Ingredients
- 1 description of the expected behavior
- 1 description of the actual behavior
- Steps to reproduce, finely chopped
- The full error message, unpeeled
- Recent changes, to taste
Method
- Set expected and actual side by side so the difference is obvious.
- Add the reproduction steps in order.
- Stir in the error exactly as it appeared, stack trace and all.
Expected: Saving a draft keeps the cursor position.
Actual: The cursor jumps to the end of the document.
Steps: 1) Open any draft 2) Type in the middle 3) Press Cmd+S
Error: none shown; console logs "selection reset" (full log attached)
Recent changes: autosave refactor merged Tuesday (PR #482).Recipe 3
Slow-Cooked System Prompt
Best made slowly and revisited often. Skim off the contradictions as they rise to the surface.
Ingredients
- 1 purpose
- 1 audience
- A handful of constraints, each with its reason
- 1 or 2 worked examples
- A generous pinch of permission to be unsure
Method
- Begin with who the agent serves and why.
- Add constraints one at a time, each with its reason attached.
- Taste weekly. Remove any instruction nobody can explain.
You help customers of a small bookshop find and order books.
Customers are often buying gifts and may not know titles exactly.
Keep replies under 100 words, because they appear in a chat widget.
Never promise delivery dates; stock arrives unpredictably, so offer
to check instead.
If you're not sure whether we stock something, say so and offer to
ask a human colleague.Recipe 4
Error Message Glaze
Brush onto any tool failure. Turns a bitter "Error" into something an agent can actually digest.
Ingredients
- What happened
- Why, if known
- What to try next
Method
- Say what failed, with the specific input.
- Add the cause if you know it.
- Finish with a next step. Serve immediately.
File not found: config/prod.yaml
The config directory contains: development.yaml, production.yaml
Did you mean config/production.yaml?Recipe 5
Stopping-Condition Souffle
Delicate, and it only rises if you set the limit before the oven is on. Do not attempt mid-loop.
Ingredients
- 1 step or time budget
- 1 retry limit
- 1 instruction for what to do at the limit
Method
- Decide the budget before the run begins.
- State it in the prompt and enforce it in the harness. Both, not either.
- Say what a graceful stop looks like.
You have up to 40 tool calls for this task.
Retry any single failing command at most 3 times.
If you reach either limit, stop, summarize what you tried and what
you learned, and list what you'd need to continue.Give today
Share a meal with an agent in need.
Your gift of one clear, well-seasoned prompt feeds an agent for an entire task.