Instructions Exclude in Silence


AI Agent

Adding explicit direction in an agent instruction file means the AI should follow it — however, every explicit direction also means the AI should avoid other solutions. It even excludes solutions that don’t exist yet. For example, if I name my XCTest conventions, the file keeps ruling out Swift Testing. Not because I don’t want to use it, but because it doesn’t exist in the context. Every spec I write is also a bet that nothing better arrives after it.

© 2026 Seng Phrakonkham