Power phrases for coding agents

Short lines you paste into Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex. Ranked by upvotes, all time.

Is that the best you can do?

review @bitsweat copied 0×

Give me irrefutable proof this works now

testing verification @thorstenball copied 0×

How can we pokayoke this error type so it never is introduced again

debugging refactoring @nateberkopec copied 0×

restate in your own words what you think my goal is

planning @poteto copied 0×

use your taste and judgment

planning @schwad copied 0×

verification @schwad copied 0×

Great! Now the same but with half the code

refactoring @juliknl copied 0×

Are you proud of this?

review @markahesketh copied 0×

refactoring @UmamiByTheSea copied 0×

Use your best judgement and best practices.

planning @SteveGBanton copied 0×

you will be judged against a holdout

verification @danluu copied 0×

act as appropriate

planning @bitsweat copied 0×

what's next / blocked / needs me

planning @bitsweat copied 0×

Draw me a simple diagram of the system we built so far, boxes-and-arrows.

planning review @bhumi1102 copied 0×

Make it look like Edward Tufte would be proud of it.

review @VesterDe copied 0×

remove all useless tests

refactoring testing @decruz copied 0×

Do not feel constrained by what already exists, or what you have in your memory. Think from first principles

planning @dimitribosch copied 0×

Ask me clarifying questions until you have complete clarity on the goals

planning @netnostalgic copied 0×

Re-explain in simple terms

review @dimitribosch copied 0×

Before you fix it, explain why the tests didn't catch it.

debugging testing @JoshDefilippi copied 0×

list all tradeoffs you made compared to an expert.

review @_quinnwins copied 0×

Before you build, is this the best and most futureproof solution without taking any easy ways out?

planning review @puntpoints copied 0×

Use your judgement to delegate to lower-tier agents. Validate important outcomes and conclusions yourself.

planning verification @simonw copied 0×

clearly state the issue, the root cause, and your proposed fix

debugging @___Atin___ copied 0×

Do a multi-agent audit of that PR

review @ade_oshineye copied 0×

make this an order of magnitude better

review @petekp copied 0×