Vibe Coding Prompts Examples: Weak vs Strong, Side by Side
A strong vibe coding prompt says what you want to see, what must stay the same and how you will judge it, while a weak one leaves all of that to chance. Here are five examples from one invented game about a goat delivering parcels over a mountain pass.
Example 1: adding a feature
Weak: "Add weather."
Strong: "Add rain on the upper path only. Rain makes the stones slippery, so the goat slides one extra step after each move. Leave the lower path dry, and keep the jump timing as it is."
What the rewrite does: "Weather" could mean anything from a colour change to a whole new system. The strong version gives it a place, an effect and a limit. The last sentence matters most, because your AI cannot protect what you did not mention.
Example 2: reporting a bug
Weak: "The parcels are broken."
Strong: "When I drop a parcel on a bridge, walk away and come back, it is gone. Dropping one on grass works. It started when we added bridges."
What the rewrite does: It gives steps to repeat, a case that works and a time when the trouble started. The working case is the useful part, since it tells your AI where not to look. Leave the cause out. If you guess wrong, your AI may follow your guess.
Example 3: changing the feel
Weak: "Make the goat feel better."
Strong: "The goat stops dead when I let go of the key, as if it hit glass. I want about half a step of sliding, more on ice. Tell me which number you changed."
What the rewrite does: "Better" is a verdict with no direction. The strong version gives a picture ("as if it hit glass"), a rough amount and a handle for next time. Feel takes a few rounds, so knowing the number lets you ask for "a bit less" and have that mean something.
Example 4: writing content
Weak: "Write some villagers."
Strong: "Write three villagers for the top village. Each wants one parcel and has one greeting of at most 12 words. One is old and tired, one is funny, one is suspicious of goats. Nobody knows the goat can read."
What the rewrite does: Limits make writing better, for AI and people alike. The last sentence is a world rule that your AI could never have guessed. If your game has more of those, put them in a story bible.
Example 5: balance
Weak: "Make it harder."
Strong: "Right now I finish pass 3 without dropping a single parcel. I want a normal run to drop about one. Give me two ways to get there, and do not build either yet."
What the rewrite does: "Harder" has no target. The strong version says where you are, where you want to be, and asks for choices before any work starts. One option might be stronger wind and the other fewer rest spots, and only you can say which fits your game.
What do the strong versions have in common?
They are not longer for the sake of it. Each one adds only what your AI could not work out alone: where, how much, what stays, and how you will know. If you are short of time, the single most useful addition is the sentence saying what must not change.
For quick moments, one line from the cheat sheet is enough.
Paste this to your AI
Here is a message I was about to send you: [your weak message].
Do not build anything yet. Rewrite it so that it says what I should see, what must stay the same and how I will judge it.
Use only things that are really in my project, and tell me where you found each one. Wherever my message leaves something open and the project does not settle it, write a question for me, not a guess.
If the request changes how the game behaves, start the rewrite with this step: draw the situations involved as a Mermaid diagram, walk through it for dead ends, and build from it.
Show me the rewritten message and the open questions. I will answer, and then you can build.
Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP
How to check it worked
- Compare the two versions. Could you now tell whether the result is right? Does the rewrite begin with the diagram step?
- Answer the questions. Did any of them make you think of something new?
- Check each "must stay the same". After the build, try those things in the game first.
- Follow one "where I found it". Is it really in your project?