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Make one small change and review the diff1 / 2

2 min lesson

When the first diff grows

Find the first warning sign. Explain what you would do next.

Step 1 of 2

The diff contains work you did not ask for. The warning sign is accepting the result without opening the diff.

Reject scope creep, then re-prompt tighter

0:42 · narrated
Read this demo as text
  1. A vague prompt came back with two changes bundled together — the reword you wanted, and a className rename nobody asked for. Reject it. Rejecting costs nothing; the file on disk never moved.
  2. Re-prompt tighter — name the exact string and the exact replacement. One hunk this time. Read it line by line: nothing rides along that you didn't ask for.
  3. Accept the clean hunk. Reject-and-re-prompt cost you seconds; untangling an accepted scope creep costs a whole review cycle.
Watch the recovery once. Read the extra hunk, reject it, tighten the prompt and accept only the clean hunk.

Practice next: Now reject the scope creep, tighten the prompt and accept only the clean hunk.

Simulated Cursor 3.12 (macOS, light) — beta educational reconstruction, not the real product.