brief-the-delegatelisted

# brief-the-delegate — spell out every ambiguity A stateless dispatch inherits no context. If you do not specify it, the delegate will guess — and guess wrong. ## Disambiguate the task 1. **Ordering:** Specify if order matters (e.g., "process files in alphabetical order"). 2. **Boundaries:** Define what is in scope and what is out. 3. **Locale/Format:** Specify date formats, number formats, or language. 4. **First-vs-last-write-wins:** If multiple sources conflict, specify which takes precedence. ## Use placeholders for bulk content If the delegate needs to generate large amounts of text (e.g., boilerplate, lists): 1. **Use `{{FILLER}}`:** Ask the delegate to output a marker instead of the full content. The marker is a convention, not something the model knows — **define it explicitly in the prompt** ("emit the literal token `{{FILLER}}` where the body would go"), or it will either ignore it or write the bulk anyway. 2. **Fill later:** Replace the markers with actual content in a subsequent step. ## Name assertions that must be ground-truthed 1. **Identify risky claims:** Mark any assertion that requires verification (e.g., "this file exists", "this function is called"). 2. **Require evidence:** Ask the delegate to provide the source or proof for these claims. ## Example ```json { "messages": [ { "role": "user", "content": "Extract all function names from the file. Output as a JSON array. If a function is defined in multiple files, use the definit