Prompting AI to read all project docs before every edit
Avoid forcing AI to read extensive documentation before simple edits; use contextual pointers instead.
Provide contextual pointers to relevant documentation only when necessary, allowing the model to determine what it needs to read.
Prompting the model to read architecture.md, database.md, and deployment.md before every edit, requiring a stack of docs or a full repo map.
This practice burns context and slows down work unnecessarily. Advanced models can infer necessary information without being pushed to review the entire project before each minor change.
Do not force AI models to read extensive project documentation before every minor edit. Instead, provide contextual pointers to relevant documents only when needed, saving time and context.
- Rethinking skills and prompts for GPT-6 Astra ↗OpenAI Developers Blog · OpenAI Developers Blog · Sep 12, 2026 · paraphrased
First seen on Subvolts Sep 12, 2026. Updated Sep 12, 2026. Spotted a problem? Tell us.
- Rethinking skills and prompts for GPT-6 AstraOpenAI · OpenAI Developers Blog · Sep 12, 2026
The Playbook: reusable how-tos, prompts, configs and tips pulled out of the news.
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Questions people ask
- Which AI tools does this work with?
- Any current model. It was seen with ChatGPT in the sources.
- Where did this come from?
- OpenAI Developers Blog (OpenAI Developers Blog). Subvolts collected, normalized and credited it; the link above opens the original.