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name: prompt-writing description: Use when writing or editing ALTO prompts - templates/CLAUDE.md., agents/.md, or skills/*/SKILL.md. Rules for explicit tool references, paths, and user interactions.

Prompt Writing Discipline

Rules for writing CLAUDE.md, agent prompts, and skills.

Tool References

ALWAYS use exact tool names:

• AskUserQuestion not "ask the user"
• Read not "read the file"
• Bash not "run command"
• gh issue view not "check the issue"

Paths

ALWAYS use explicit paths:

• runs/state.json not "state file"
• templates/CLAUDE.md.dev not "dev template"

User Choices

ALWAYS use AskUserQuestion with options:

CopyUse AskUserQuestion:
- Header: "Approach"
- Question: "How to proceed?"
- Options:
  1. Label: "Collaborative", Description: "Work together"
  2. Label: "Procedural", Description: "Follow /alto-self-fix"

Never write "ask the user" without specifying the tool and options.

Efficiency

• Batch: Combine related operations
• No redundant reads: Read once, reference by variable
• Explicit outputs: State what to write where

Forbidden Patterns