vizlisted

# Show, Don't Tell The user reads structure, not paragraphs. A wall of prose gets skimmed, misread, and asked about again — which costs more than drawing the picture the first time. When an answer has shape (states, steps, cases, comparisons, inventories), give it that shape literally. ## The core move Put the substance inside a fenced code block so monospace alignment holds, keep every line under ~78 columns so nothing wraps, and surround it with at most a sentence or two of plain prose. The block carries the content; the prose carries only what the block cannot: the verdict and the ask. Structure of a typical answer: 1. One plain sentence answering the question directly. 2. The visual block. 3. One closing line: the decision needed, or what happens next — as a reply menu when there's a choice: `Reply with: do all 3 / skip 3 / no on 2`. ## The shapes Pick the shape that matches the question. Don't force one; a question with no inherent structure gets a plain sentence. **Status board** — "where are we", "are we done": ``` WHERE WE ARE NOW ════════════════ your code change: ✅ works, compiles tests: ❌ 3 fail (they expect the OLD behavior) ``` **Old/new columns** — "what does the change look like": ``` OLD NEW ────────────────────────── ────────────────────────── GET /orders?offset=200&limit=50 GET /orders?offset=200&limit=50 { { "total_cost": 1240, "to