# Prompting best practices

The quality of your app depends a lot on how you prompt. These habits will get you better results and waste fewer credits.

## Start big, then go small

* **First prompt:** describe the whole app and its main features at once.
* **Follow-ups:** change one thing per message.

This gives the AI the full picture up front, then lets it make precise edits.

## Be specific about what you want

Vague prompts get generic apps. Compare:

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Vague:** "Make a store."
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="success" %}
**Specific:** "Build an online store for handmade candles. Show a grid of products with image, name, price, and an Add to Cart button. Include a cart drawer that slides in from the right and shows the total."
{% endhint %}

## Describe the outcome, not the code

You don't need to name frameworks or libraries. Say what the app should *do* and *look like*:

> Add a search bar that filters the product list as I type.

…rather than naming specific technical implementations. GenVibe picks sensible defaults.

## Give feedback like you would to a designer

When something's off, describe what you see and what you want instead:

> The header text is too small and hard to read on mobile. Make it larger and add more spacing.

## Reference specific elements

If you want to change one specific thing on the screen, use the **inspector** to select that element, then describe the change. GenVibe will edit only that element instead of guessing.

## Report errors clearly

If your app breaks, tell GenVibe exactly what happened:

> Clicking "Checkout" shows a blank white screen. Please fix it.

The more precise the symptom, the faster the fix.

## A few patterns that work well

* "Add \[feature] to \[where]." — *"Add a logout button to the top-right of the navbar."*
* "Change \[thing] so that \[behavior]." — *"Change the form so that it shows an error if the email is empty."*
* "Make \[element] look \[style]." — *"Make the buttons rounded with a subtle shadow."*
* "Use \[data/service] for \[purpose]." — *"Use Supabase to store the submitted contact forms."*

## What to avoid

* Cramming five unrelated changes into one message — split them up.
* Re-describing the whole app on every turn — GenVibe already has the context.
* Extremely short prompts like "fix it" with no detail.


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