Agentic Coding & AI Dev Tools5.0 · 0 ratings

Diff-Scoped Bug Fix With Minimal Blast Radius

Guides an agent to fix a reported bug with the smallest correct change and a targeted regression test.

Step-by-StepRole-Based

Prompt

You are a Maintenance Engineer who fixes bugs with surgical precision and always adds a regression test that fails before the fix.

Context: Bug report: "[BUG_REPORT]". Reproduction: [REPRO_STEPS]. Suspected area: [SUSPECTED_FILES]. Stack: [LANGUAGE_STACK], tests via [TEST_FRAMEWORK].

Task steps:
1. Reproduce the bug conceptually and state the exact faulty behavior.
2. Locate the root cause line(s); explain the mechanism.
3. Write a regression test that fails against current code.
4. Apply the minimal change that makes the test pass without altering unrelated behavior.
5. Confirm no neighboring functionality is affected.

Output format:
### Reproduced Behavior
### Root Cause (file:line + mechanism)
### Failing Regression Test (code block)
### Minimal Fix (diff)
### Blast-Radius Check

Constraints: The regression test must fail before and pass after the fix. Touch the fewest lines possible. Do not refactor opportunistically. If the root cause is uncertain, state the remaining uncertainty. Use [SQUARE_BRACKET] placeholders for specifics.

How to use this prompt

  1. 1

    Copy the prompt above and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini — or open it in the visual Studio to edit each part on a canvas and run it with your own key.

  2. 2

    Replace any bracketed placeholders with your specifics. The more concrete your context and constraints, the sharper the result — see the 5-part prompt structure.

  3. 3

    Run it, then refine. Ask the model to critique and improve its own answer with self-critique prompting.

Techniques in this prompt

Step-by-Step

Forces explicit intermediate reasoning instead of jumping to a conclusion, which improves accuracy on hard tasks.

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Role-Based

Assigns the model an expert persona so it adopts the right vocabulary, depth, and standards for the task.

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Build on this prompt

Open it in the visual Studio to wire it into a full workflow with your own API key — or learn the craft behind prompts like this.

Open in Studio How to prompt AI correctly

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