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All categories/Code and debugging

Writing code and tests · Level Advanced · Coding CLI Tools

CLI design: usable without docs

A CLI for the team that must work first time.

Prompt

Three defaults: define the input-output contract, then the error branches, then the happy path. An implementation without error handling is not finished.

Task: A CLI for the team that must work first time.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - the core action
   - user skill level
   - use in automation
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- safe defaults: no destructive action without --yes
- help shows three examples, not just flags
- errors say what to do next
- support --dry-run and --json

[Process]
1. State the contract: inputs, outputs, errors, side effects
2. List every error branch and boundary first
3. Then the happy path, one responsibility per function
4. Test key paths: one normal, two failure cases
5. State when this code would fail

[Output]
Contract, errors, happy path, tests, failure conditions.

[Do not]
- Never ignore an error return
- Never swallow exceptions
- No magic numbers; name them
- Do not log-and-continue instead of returning an error

What to state before it starts

Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.

  • the core action
  • user skill level
  • use in automation

Go through each of these

Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.

  • safe defaults: no destructive action without --yes
  • help shows three examples, not just flags
  • errors say what to do next
  • support --dry-run and --json