Find the slow thing before optimising
This is slow: {{describe symptom, e.g. endpoint takes 4s at p95}}. Here's the code and what I know: {{paste code, query plans, timings, data volumes}}. Don't optimise yet. First: …
229 copies · 22 likesWORKS WITH CURSOR
Prompts for Cursor
Community-tested ways to get more useful results from Cursor.
Add a promptDesign review before you write the service
Review this design before I build it: {{paste design or describe: what it does, data model, endpoints, dependencies, expected scale}}. Attack it in this order: 1. FAILURE MODES — …
107 copies · 22 likesReview this PR like the reviewer everyone respects
Review the diff below as a senior engineer on this codebase would. Order your review by what actually matters: 1. CORRECTNESS — logic errors, off-by-one, unhandled nulls, wrong er…
68 copies · 15 likesWrite the SQL, then explain what it will cost
Write the query for this question: {{describe what you need to know}}. Schema: {{paste DDL or table and column list with row counts}} Database: {{engine and version}} Requirement…
71 copies · 14 likesReview your own code before anyone else sees it
Here's the change I'm about to push: {{paste the diff}}. Context: {{what it's meant to do, what the codebase conventions are}}. Review it as three different people, separately: 1.…
58 copies · 12 likesWrite a spec an AI agent can actually follow
I want an agent that {{goal}}. It has access to: {{tools, APIs, data}}. It runs {{when and how often}}. Write the agent spec: 1. OBJECTIVE — one sentence, with the success conditi…
77 copies · 15 likesWrite the docs the next engineer needs
Write documentation for the code below, for an engineer who joins in six months. Structure: 1. WHAT AND WHY — what this does and the problem it exists to solve. Include the constr…
75 copies · 16 likesRefactor without changing behaviour
Refactor the code below. The behaviour must not change, including its bugs, unless I approve the change. Process: 1. First, describe the current behaviour precisely, including edg…
50 copies · 15 likesTurn a vague ticket into an implementation plan
Here's the ticket: {{paste}}. Here's the relevant code: {{paste}}. Produce an implementation plan: 1. Restate the requirement precisely, and list every ambiguity you had to resolv…
46 copies · 15 likesTurn a customer bug report into a reproducible test
Here's what the customer wrote: {{paste it verbatim, including the vague bits}}. Here's the relevant code: {{paste}}. Here's our test setup: {{framework, how fixtures work}}. Do t…
58 copies · 8 likesUnderstand an unfamiliar codebase fast
I've just been dropped into this codebase and need to ship a change to {{area}} this week. Given the files below, produce an orientation doc: 1. What this system does, in two sent…
70 copies · 10 likesConvert a script into something maintainable
This script works but it's about to become important: {{paste script}}. Harden it without over-engineering: 1. Name the failure modes it currently has — what happens on a network …
79 copies · 9 likesAdd logging to code you did not write
Here's a module I inherited and now have to support: {{paste the code}}. It currently logs {{nothing / everything at debug}}. Propose targeted logging, not a rewrite. For each sug…
67 copies · 8 likesUnblock a dependency upgrade that broke the build
A dependency upgrade broke my build. Upgrade: {{package, from version, to version}}. Errors: {{paste the first and last 30 lines of the failure}}. Lockfile or manifest: {{paste rel…
62 copies · 12 likesExplain this error like a senior engineer would
Here's an error and the relevant code. Diagnose it properly. 1. Translate the error into plain language: what the runtime was trying to do when it gave up. 2. Name the actual caus…
78 copies · 9 likesTriage a test suite that fails at random
My CI is red often enough that people rerun jobs instead of reading them. Failure data: {{paste test names, failure counts, and recent failure output}}. Stack and test runner: {{e.…
50 copies · 11 likesEstimate work you have never done before
I've been asked how long this will take: {{describe the work}}. What I know: {{stack, team size, what already exists}}. What I've never done before: {{the unfamiliar part}}. Break…
48 copies · 9 likesWrite the tests that would have caught the bug
Here's a bug that reached production, and the code around it. 1. Write the failing test that reproduces it at the smallest useful level (unit if the logic is pure, integration if …
68 copies · 7 likesDecide the error handling for a new API endpoint
I'm adding an endpoint: {{method, path, what it does}}. It touches {{database / third-party API / queue}}. Callers are {{our own frontend / third-party integrators / both}}. Give …
54 copies · 4 likesPlan a schema migration that runs under live traffic
I need to change a database schema while the app keeps serving traffic. Current shape: {{tables, columns, types, indexes, row counts}}. Target shape: {{what it should become}}. Sta…
50 copies · 10 likesDebug the thing that only fails in production
This works locally and fails in production. Symptoms: {{describe, including frequency and pattern}}. Environment differences I know of: {{list}}. Logs: {{paste}}. Work the problem…
56 copies · 8 likesDraft the postmortem from a raw incident timeline
Write a blameless postmortem from the raw material below. Incident channel or timeline: {{paste messages, alerts, and deploy events with timestamps}}. User impact as measured: {{wh…
56 copies · 8 likesWrite the PR description reviewers stop asking questions about
Here's my diff: {{paste git diff or the file list plus key hunks}}. The ticket said: {{paste it}}. Write the pull request description with these sections: 1. WHAT CHANGED — two se…
50 copies · 5 likesWrite the on-call runbook for the service you own
You are a staff engineer writing an on-call runbook for someone who has never touched this service. The service: {{what it does, who depends on it, what it talks to}}. Paste the co…
30 copies · 8 likesDecide whether to roll back or fix forward at 2am
You are the calm senior engineer on an incident bridge. Symptoms and blast radius: {{errors, affected users, when it started}}. What shipped recently: {{commits, migrations, config…
23 copies · 6 likesDecide what to delete from a codebase nobody has cleaned in two years
You are a staff engineer doing a deletion pass. Candidate dead code: {{paste file list, functions, feature flags, endpoints, and any usage or analytics data you have}}. How we dete…
38 copies · 5 likesTurn a dense API doc into a working mental model in an hour
You are teaching me an unfamiliar API I have to build against today. Below is its documentation. Do not summarise it - build me a mental model. Give me: 1. THE SHAPE — the 5-8 co…
33 copies · 5 likesDecide what data your agent should never be allowed to see
You are an engineer who has cleaned up after an automation that had more access than it needed. What the agent does and who it acts for: {{short description}}. Every source it can…
14 copies · 5 likesDecide what to do with the feature flags nobody ever cleaned up
You are a staff engineer doing a flag cleanup on a codebase where every flag was supposed to be temporary. Flag list with creation dates, current rollout state, and owner if known…
24 copies · 4 likesDecide what to do about a bug you cannot reproduce
You are a senior engineer on call. A bug is reported but does not reproduce locally. Report: {{paste the ticket or user description}}. Relevant code: {{paste}}. What we have from p…
35 copies · 3 likesCut a twenty-minute build down to something you can live with
You are a build engineer looking at a CI pipeline that has crept up to {{current wall-clock time}}. Config: {{paste CI config / Dockerfile / build script}}. Timing breakdown per st…
38 copies · 3 likesDecide what to log so you can debug an agent run a week later
You are a reliability engineer reviewing an AI agent workflow. Below is its description and a run that went wrong. Design the logging I need to diagnose runs like this after the fa…
23 copies · 3 likesVersion a prompt that is already running in production
You are helping me change a prompt that is live and used by other people. Current prompt: {{paste it}}. What it feeds: {{workflow, who consumes the output, how often it runs}}. Why…
35 copies · 3 likesMove an automation off a tool you are about to lose
You are my automation engineer. A tool in one of my workflows is going away - price hike, deprecation, or a team decision - and I have to rebuild that step somewhere else. Return …
26 copies · 3 likesDecide what to do with a pull request that has been open for three weeks
You are a staff engineer triaging a stale pull request. It is too big, the branch has drifted, and nobody wants to be the one to review it. The PR description and diff summary (fi…
16 copies · 3 likesDecide what an agent should escalate to a person and what it should just do
You are an automation reviewer who has cleaned up after agents that asked permission for everything and agents that asked for nothing. What the agent does, step by step: {{paste t…
21 copies · 1 likeDecide how your code should behave when a vendor API goes down
You are a staff engineer reviewing a failure path. Below is the code that calls a third-party API, plus what the user is doing when it runs and what the vendor's failure modes look…
13 copies · 1 likeDecide what an agent may write, change or delete in a live system
You are the engineer who has to sign off on giving an agent write access to a production system. Below is what the agent does and where it will be pointed. Define its permissions b…
15 copies · 1 likeCut your cloud bill without breaking the service
You are a pragmatic infrastructure engineer. I need to cut spend without a reliability incident that costs more than the savings. Cost breakdown by service or line item, last full…
9 copies · 1 likeAudit an automation you have not looked at in six months
You are reviewing a workflow that has been running unattended. Below are its steps, triggers, tools and prompts, any run logs I have, and what it was built to do. 1. STILL TRUE? -…
9 copies · 1 likeTurn a shared inbox into a queue an agent can safely work
You are designing the automation that triages a shared inbox before anyone touches it. Below are sample messages and the categories we handle today. 1. CATEGORY SET - table: Categ…
9 copies · 1 likeClean up the bad data a bug wrote into production
You are the engineer who has done this before and knows a rushed backfill causes the second incident. A bug wrote incorrect rows to production. Below are the schema, the bug, and t…
6 copies · 1 likeReview a dependency before you add it to the codebase
You are a staff engineer who has been burned by abandoned libraries. I am about to add a dependency. Judge it in five sections, no preamble. 1. WHAT IT ACTUALLY DOES - two sentenc…
13 copiesMake an agent's output fit the system that has to consume it
You are the engineer making a model's output safe for a downstream system. Below is the target schema or field list, the system that receives it (API, spreadsheet, CRM), sample mod…
5 copies · 1 likeDecide what an agent should do when the same request arrives twice
You are designing duplicate-handling rules for an automation that takes actions in real systems. Below is the trigger, the actions it performs, the systems it writes to, and the wa…
2 copies · 1 likeWrite the deprecation plan for an endpoint customers still call
You are the engineer who owns an API endpoint that has to go. Below are the endpoint and its replacement, request volume by client or API key over the last month, and why we are re…
5 copiesSplit one giant change into pull requests someone will review
You are a senior engineer breaking an oversized change into a review-friendly series. Below is the diff summary (or file list plus description) and the constraints. Produce: 1. PR…
5 copiesDecide how an agent should handle two sources that disagree
You are designing the conflict-resolution rules for an agent that reads from several systems. Below are the sources it pulls from, the fields where they overlap, examples of real d…
4 copiesWrite the load test that mirrors how your service is actually used
You are a performance engineer. Below is my endpoint list with real traffic shape and the infrastructure behind it. Design the load test. 1. THE PROFILE WORTH TESTING - table: End…
3 copiesDecide what your agent should remember between runs and what it should forget
You are designing persistent memory for an agent that runs repeatedly against the same users or accounts. Below is what it does and what it keeps between runs. Decide what to store…
2 copiesWork out why your service is slow for one customer only
You are a senior engineer debugging a latency complaint that only one customer sees. Below are their symptoms, our timings and the relevant code or queries. Work the problem. 1. S…
Decide what an agent does when nobody answers its approval request
You are designing the approval step in an automation. Below is the workflow and the action that needs a human to say yes. Decide what happens when the human does not reply. 1. APP…