Your AI coding agent writes something that looks right. It compiles in your head. Then you notice it called user.getProfileById() — a method that doesn't exist anywhere in your codebase.
You didn't ask it to make that up. It invented it confidently, in the middle of otherwise-fine code. And that's the worst kind of wrong: not obviously broken, just quietly incorrect in a way you have to catch.
If you've run Claude Code, Cursor, or any agent on a real repo, you know this one. Here's why it happens — and why the obvious fix doesn't work.
The fix everyone tries first (and why it fails)
You reword the prompt.
