1 min lesson
The four prompt patterns and the capability map
Name the four prompt patterns and say which one most reduces wasted implementation effort and why.
Step 1 of 2
On a team, freeform prompting is noise. Most real work collapses into four repeatable intents and naming them is how you get juniors to operate like seniors. Teach these four and you've taught the workflow.
"Map how auth flows through this service. Don't change anything."
Pure recall and understanding. The agent reads; it does not write. Safe, fast, the right way to start in unfamiliar code.
"Propose a plan to add rate-limiting to these endpoints. Show me before you implement."
Output is a plan a human approves. Cheapest place to catch a wrong approach.
"Rename this symbol everywhere, change nothing else, keep tests green."
Tight scope, explicit invariants, a test target. Small diff by construction.
"Summarize this diff, flag risky areas, draft the PR description and test plan."
Turns the agent into a reviewer's assistant. Speeds the human checkpoint without removing it.