I stopped telling ChatGPT to 'fix it.' Here's the 4-part prompt I use instead.

For about a year I used AI to code like a slot machine.

Paste a wall of code. Type "fix it" or "make this better." Pull the lever. Sometimes I won. Usually I got a confident answer that solved the thing I asked about and quietly broke two things I didn't.

I assumed the problem was the model. So I switched models. Same slot machine, nicer graphics.

The problem wasn't the model. It was that I was giving it almost nothing to work with and expecting it to read my mind. Once I started prompting with a bit of structure, the difference was bigger than any model upgrade I'd ever seen.

Here's the structure. I call it C.O.R.E., because I needed something I could actually remember at 11pm.