Prompt patterns that work for Luau

The difference between an AI that builds what you want and one that wanders is mostly how you ask. These patterns are worth saving as snippets.

1. The feature brief

Use it for anything new.

Build [feature].
What: [behavior in plain words, with real numbers]
Where: [which services or folders the code goes in]
Rules: [what the server owns; what must never be trusted]
Check: [how to playtest it and what proves it works]

2. Plan first

For anything bigger than one script, ask for a plan and approve it before any code exists.

Before writing code, give me a plan: which scripts and modules you'll
create, what each one owns, and how they talk to each other. Wait for
my OK.

3. Match what’s there

AI loves to invent a new style in every file. Point it at your existing code.

Follow the patterns in [existing module]: same structure, naming and
error handling. Don't add new libraries.

4. Explain before fixing

Here's the error: [paste the full line]. Explain the root cause before
changing anything. Then fix it at the source and playtest to prove it.

5. Small steps

Big prompts produce big messes. Chain small ones and playtest between them.

Step 1 only: make the shop UI open and close. Don't wire up buying yet.

6. Review mode

Ask a fresh agent to review, not the one that wrote the code.

Review this script as a senior Roblox developer. List bugs, exploits,
memory leaks (connections never disconnected) and performance problems,
most serious first. Don't rewrite it yet.

Words that help

• “–!strict” gets typed code that catches more bugs.
• “Server-authoritative” gets the server deciding things.
• “Don’t use deprecated APIs” avoids wait(), spawn() and delay(). Use task.wait, task.spawn and task.delay.
• “Clean up connections” gets :Disconnect() calls when objects are destroyed.