The agents are only as good as what you give them. These are the highest-leverage habits, roughly in order of impact.
Write guardrails
Guardrails are rules the agent reads before every turn — quality bars, style rules, “never touch X”. They’re the difference between telling every builder the rules once versus hoping everyone remembers. If you set up one thing from this page, make it this.
Point, don’t describe
For UI work, use Visual edit: click the element and send it with your prompt. “Make this blue” with an anchor beats three sentences describing where the button is — the agent gets the element and the code behind it.
Show, don’t tell
Paste screenshots and mockups directly into the prompt box. A picture of the bug, the design you’re copying, or the spreadsheet you want turned into an app is worth its weight in prompt text. Markdown files (specs, notes) attach the same way.
Use Prompt Builder for big asks
For anything substantial, switch the composer to Prompt Builder — it asks a few questions, then assembles a thorough prompt covering the details a one-liner would leave to interpretation. See Agent modes.
Prototype direction in Design mode
When you’re unsure what you want, don’t burn build cycles finding out. Design mode prototypes are fast and cheap — iterate on direction there, then Build the winner for real.
One change at a time
“Fix the login bug” then “now add remember-me” beats one prompt asking for both. Small turns are easier to verify, easier to roll back, and keep the agent focused. For a real batch of work, hand it to the Manager instead — it splits the work properly (Building in parallel).
Answer its questions
When the agent asks — which of two behaviors you want, whether a table can be renamed — those answers steer everything downstream. A ten-second answer saves a ten-minute correction later.
Start fresh chats for fresh topics
Each chat carries its own context. A new topic in a new chat keeps the agent sharp; a fifty-message chat mixing four features dilutes it.