Ask for a Critical Review
Ask Claude to find problems, say what to look for, and request a ranked list. 'Looks good?' invites a yes.
Where you'll practice this
One Promptles scenario teaches this principle directly.
Review Before It Grows
tidepool is two weeks old: about 1,500 lines, three features, and 40 tests. Selin and Felix start next week, and whatever patterns exist now will be copied everywhere. You've noticed small things already: one route returns errors as `{ error }` and another as `{ message }`, and…
Other principles in Errors & Proof
Ask Claude to Verify Its Work
End with a check: have Claude run it and show you the result, so done means proven, not claimed.
Describe How to Reproduce
Say how to trigger it, how often, under what conditions, and when it last worked.
Describe the Sequence
Write out the steps in order and what passes between them, so Claude can see where it breaks.
Describe What You See
Describe the exact symptom and the screen size where it breaks, with a screenshot if you can.
Include the Error Message
Paste the exact error and the lines around it. 'It crashes' gives Claude nothing to work from.
Keep Failures Independent
When one job feeds several channels, make each succeed or fail on its own, and retry without sending twice.