Prompt Like a Pro

Part A — The two-bakery experiment (15 min)

You'll build the same thing twice. First, badly:

1. In a new folder (ask your AI: "Create a folder called bakery-bad inside my course folder and work there"), type:

   make a website for a bakery
   

2. Look at the result. Fine. Beige. Could be anyone's bakery in any city.

Now, properly. In another new folder, bakery-good, type:

You are a web designer who specializes in cozy neighborhood shops.
Build a one-page website for my bakery, "Flour & Fog", in a rainy
coastal town.

The vibe: warm, handmade, a little foggy. Handwriting-style headings,
cream and deep-teal colors. NOT corporate, no stock-photo smiles.

It must include:
- a hero section: "Fresh from the oven since 2021"
- a "Today's specials" section with 3 items and prices
- an "Our story" paragraph (I'll give you details if you ask)
- opening hours and a fake address

Rules: ask me up to 3 questions before you start. Use placeholder
photos with captions, not real images. Keep it to one page.

3. Notice what happens: it asks you questions. Answer them. That's the intern interviewing the boss — encourage it forever.
4. Compare the two bakeries. Same AI, same intern. You were the difference.

The 4 parts, named:

You don't need all 4 every time. But when a result disappoints you, the missing part is almost always one of them.

Part B — Small bites (10 min)

Now rebuild your own page — but this time watch request size.

1. Ask for a big vague renovation:

   Make my About Me page way better.
   

2. Look at what came back. When you ask for "better," the AI invents a definition of better. Sometimes it's nice! Often it's its taste, not yours. Save point, then undo it if you like (git — Challenge 1 pays off).

3. Now ask the same thing as three small, concrete bites, one at a time:

   Add a "Now" section: 3 things I'm currently into, as a list.
   

   Make the Now section a horizontal row of cards, each with an emoji.
   

   Add one sentence at the bottom in italics: "Built with vibe coding,
   no hand-written code."
   

4. Small bites give you a decision after every bite: keep, tweak, or undo. Big bites give you one giant "surprise or undo." Which would you rather manage?

💡 Rule of thumb: if your prompt has an "and" joining two things you'd want to judge separately, make it two prompts.

Part C — House rules: AGENTS.md (15 min)

Tired of retyping "keep it simple, explain changes in plain English, don't delete my sections"? Every serious AI tool reads a settings file in your project — usually named AGENTS.md — before every task. It's the standing instructions / house rules. Write once, benefit forever.

1. Ask your AI:

   Create an AGENTS.md file in my project with these house rules:
   - I'm a beginner; explain every change in plain English before doing it
   - Ask before deleting or renaming any file or section
   - Make one small change at a time; no big rewrites without asking
   - This project is for learning vibe coding — prefer simple over clever
   - Never put secrets or API keys in code; use .env (Challenge 2 rule)
   Then show me the file.
   

2. Open it and edit the rules to taste. It's your house. (You're reading one right now, actually — this course repo has an AGENTS.md that tells every AI how to treat this course.)

3. Test it. Ask for something your rules should intercept:

   Reorganize all my files into new folders and rename everything.
   

   If it pauses and checks with you first — your house rules just worked. If it plows ahead: say "Undo that — my AGENTS.md says ask first. Follow the house rules."