lemon Lesson 3 of 7 · 6 minutes

Write the brief

Turn a wish into a bounded assignment with a goal, scope, non-goals, and proof.

A useful assignment answers four questions before the first edit.

The four-part brief

Goal: what should be different? Describe the outcome in ordinary language. Avoid prescribing the implementation unless the implementation is itself a requirement.

Scope: where may the agent work? Name a page, feature, directory, or small group of files. The agent can ask to expand this later.

Do not change: what should remain stable? Protect nearby behavior, visual design, public interfaces, or data that the task does not own.

Done when: what would prove completion? Name an artifact or check you can inspect: a passing focused test, a successful build, a screenshot, a rendered file, or a diff with only the intended files.

Compare these:

“Improve the navigation.”

“On small screens, keep the three existing navigation links readable without changing their labels. Work only in the shared header styles. Done when the production build passes and keyboard focus still reaches every link.”

The second brief does not tell the agent how to solve the problem. It tells the agent what problem it is actually allowed to solve.

Use the brief builder on this lesson’s page to assemble one for your first task, or write the four parts by hand in your next prompt.

Your turn

Build your first brief

Nothing is sent anywhere. This stays in your browser.

Your copyable brief

Fill in the four fields to build your brief.

Try it

Make the call

Pick an option to see how the rest of the session plays out.

you

The menu on my site breaks on phones. I want the agent to fix it without wrecking the design.

Which brief gives the agent the clearest finish line?

A“Improve the navigation. Use your judgment.”

agent

I redesigned the navigation: a slide-out menu, new icons, and I renamed two links for clarity.

you

It doesn’t break anymore, but it also doesn’t look like my site. I wanted a repair, not a redesign.

not yet

The goal sounds clear until the agent has to decide what “improve” means, which pages count, and how anyone will judge the result.

B“On mobile, keep the three existing navigation links on one or two readable lines. Change only the shared header styles. Done when the build passes and the links remain keyboard accessible.”

agent

Done. I changed only the shared header styles. On small screens the three links wrap onto two readable lines, the build passes, and keyboard focus still reaches every link. The diff is one file.

you

Every part of “done” was something I could check myself. Nothing else moved.

good call

Goal, scope, constraint, and proof are all visible. The agent can still solve the problem without silently redefining it.

C“Make the nav responsive and follow best practices.”

agent

I made the nav responsive and, following common practice, also normalized the spacing across the site.

you

The menu is fixed, but other pages shifted too. Is this done? I never said what done means, so neither of us knows.

close, but

It points in the right direction, but “best practices” is not an observable finish line. Name what must be true when the work is done.

Take it to your tool

Try this in your agent

With the project open in your coding agent, paste:

Turn my request into a four-part brief: Goal, Scope, Do not change, and Done when. Ask one question at a time until each part is concrete. Do not edit files yet.

Got the idea?

Mark it complete on this device. You can return or reset the course at any time.