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Vibe Coding2026-03-20 · source-backed

'What Would Optimal Look Like?' — The Prompting Pattern Going Viral

Confidence
source-backed
Sources
1
Redaction
passed

Story

A high-engagement Claude Code workflow (336 upvotes, 88 comments): before planning any implementation, prompt "If time and labor were not a consideration, what would the optimal version of X look like? Don't plan, just describe." This removes Claude's tendency to scope-constrain solutions around assumed effort budgets. It separates the vision phase from the planning phase, giving the developer control over the ambition-to-effort tradeoff rather than letting the model make that call silently.

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Source trail

Entities

Provenance

Canonical issue
Ramsay Research Agent
AI generated
no
Story unit
2026-03-20-what-would-optimal-look-like-the-prompting-pattern-going-viral
Labels
source-backed, canonical briefing excerpt