prompt-for-others

Prompt For Others

Write for an AI agent on a teammate's machine with no chat context. The teammate may be non-technical and will not edit the prompt.

Workflow

1. Test the fix on the user's machine unless already tested. Never include untested commands.
2. Draft the paragraph in this exact order:
   • Goal in one sentence.
   • Context in 1–2 sentences: what the tool does, the problem, and why the fix is needed.
   • Steps as exact commands, in backticks, in order.
   • Verify with exact commands and expected output.
   • Stop rule: what to do if a precondition is missing.
   • Report back: the 1–2 facts the teammate should receive.
3. Read as an agent with no context: could it run this without questions? Inline any missing context.
4. Give the user one ready-to-copy paragraph in a blockquote, without headings, bullets, or commentary; then stop.

Rules

• One paragraph. If it needs two, the fix is too big; split it or say so.
• Commands must be copy-safe: absolute where it matters, no placeholders like <your-name> unless the agent can resolve them ($(id -u) is fine).
• Prefer reversible steps. If a step is destructive, say so and require the agent to confirm with the human first.
• Never include secrets, tokens, or private URLs. Point to where the agent can find them locally instead.
• Explain why the change is needed in plain English.
• Assume nothing is installed. Use a stop rule instead of an install fallback unless the user asked for one.

Example

Upgrade the repo-sync background service on this Mac to v0.1.1 and restart it. Context: repo-sync (Homebrew cask vectal-labs/tap/repo-sync) auto-syncs Git repos. v0.1.1 fixes misleading popups during network blips. The cask needs an explicit upgrade, followed by a service restart. Steps: run brew update && brew upgrade --cask repo-sync, then launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.vectal-labs.repo-sync. Verify with brew list --cask --versions repo-sync (must show 0.1.1) and tail -3 ~/Library/Logs/repo-sync/stdout.log (must show a fresh watching N repositories line). If brew or the cask is missing, stop and tell me instead of installing anything. Report back the version and the log line.