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Writing Effective Prompts

Clear Objectives

  • Be specific about your goals
  • State what you want to achieve
  • Provide clear success criteria

Contextual Details

  • Share relevant code snippets
  • Include error messages
  • Mention project requirements

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Using Think First Mode

When to Use

  • Complex architectural decisions
  • Bug investigation
  • Performance optimization
  • Security considerations

When to Skip

  • Quick syntax questions
  • Simple code completions
  • Documentation lookups
  • Basic refactoring

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Tips for Think First Mode

  • Allow extra time for the dual-model processing
  • Provide detailed context for better analysis
  • Use it for mission-critical code changes
  • Consider disabling for rapid prototyping phases

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Examples

❌ Ineffective: My code isn't working. Can you help?
✅ Effective: I'm getting a 'Thread 1: Fatal error: Unexpectedly found nil' when trying to unwrap an optional UIImage in my custom UICollectionViewCell. Here's my cellForItemAt implementation...
✅ Feature Request: I need to implement a custom tab bar in SwiftUI that shows a circular progress indicator around the selected tab icon. The progress should be animated. Here's my current TabView implementation...

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Managing Context

File Context

  • Use @ Files to add specific files
  • Include related dependencies
  • Share configuration files

Codebase Context

  • Use @ Codebase for framework-level questions
  • Reference specific components
  • Share relevant modules

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Examples

❌ Limited: How do I update this delegate method?
✅ Complete: I need to update this UITableViewDelegate method to handle custom swipe actions. Here's my current implementation (@Files TableViewController.swift) and the custom SwipeActionView (@Files Views/SwipeActionView.swift) I want to integrate.
✅ Framework: I'm building a custom networking layer (@Codebase Networking/*). Can you help me implement proper retry logic with exponential backoff?

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Using Documentation

Apple Documentation

  • Use @ Apple Docs for framework reference
  • Reference specific APIs
  • Include version information

Individual Docs

  • Use @ Apple Docs (Individual) for specific methods
  • Reference specific classes
  • Include parameter details

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Examples

❌ Vague: How do I use Core Data?
✅ Specific: I need help implementing NSFetchedResultsController (@Apple Docs NSFetchedResultsController) with multiple sections based on dates. Here's my current Core Data model (@Files Model.xcdatamodeld)...
✅ API Reference: Can you explain how to use URLSession's (@Apple Docs URLSession) background download tasks with proper delegate handling (@Apple Docs URLSessionDownloadDelegate)?

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Platform-Specific Best Practices

Swift Best Practices

  • Use Swift-specific terminology
  • Reference Swift documentation
  • Include Swift version

UIKit/AppKit

  • Reference UI frameworks
  • Include view hierarchy
  • Share layout constraints

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Examples

❌ Ambiguous: How do I create a button?
✅ SwiftUI: I'm using SwiftUI (iOS 16+) and need to create a custom button with a gradient background, dynamic shadow, and haptic feedback. Here's my current Button implementation...
✅ UIKit Integration: I need to embed this SwiftUI view (@Files CustomView.swift) into my existing UIKit navigation stack. Here's my current UIHostingController setup...

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Common Scenarios

Debugging

  • Share error messages
  • Include stack traces
  • Reference relevant code

Refactoring

  • Explain current structure
  • Describe desired outcome
  • Share relevant files

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Examples

❌ Unclear: The app crashes sometimes.
✅ Detailed: The app crashes when switching between tabs while a network request is in progress. Here's the crash log and relevant networking code (@Files NetworkManager.swift). The issue started after implementing async/await...
✅ Refactoring: I want to refactor this massive view controller (@Files ProfileViewController.swift) into smaller components using MVVM. Here's my planned architecture diagram...

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Examples

❌ Too Much: Sharing entire project files for a simple UI fix
✅ Just Right: Continuing from our previous chat about the networking layer (see chat history), I need to add request caching. Here's the specific RequestCaching protocol I want to implement...
✅ Breaking Down: `I need to migrate this UIKit project to SwiftUI. Let’s break it down:
  1. First, let’s handle the navigation structure
  2. Then, convert each view controller individually
  3. Finally, implement the data flow with @StateObject and ObservableObject`

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Working with Build Errors

Build & Fix Errors Button

  • Use for automatic error resolution
  • Alex handles the entire build-fix cycle by using Xcode’s build system
  • No manual intervention needed
  • Continues until build succeeds

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When to Use Automatic Build & Fix

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Examples

✅ Automatic Fix: Click "Build & Fix Errors" when you see multiple red errors in Xcode. Alex will handle missing imports, protocol conformance, and type issues automatically one by one until the build succeeds.

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Build Error Best Practices

  1. Let Alex Work: Do not interrupt the build-fix loop unless necessary
  2. Review Changes: Always review the final working code
  3. Save Progress: Use checkpoints after successful builds

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Community Resources

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