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Public story · 2026-08-16 · high
Instruction-following accuracy on WildIFEval rose as much as 23.1% once every unexplained rule got cut, per the paper.
Why now: The study posted to arXiv in August and appears in the August 16 briefing.
Researchers cut 99.3% of a prompt's instructions using one rule: every line needs a # why: comment explaining why it exists, per a new arXiv paper.
That matters for anyone running a coding agent off an instruction file that only grows. Deleting the unjustified 99.3% didn't hurt the model. Instruction-following accuracy on the WildIFEval benchmark rose as much as 23.1%, per the paper.
The method itself is plain. Write a # why: line above every rule stating why it exists. No comment means no rule.
I write and maintain instruction files for my own projects, and this matches what I'd guess. Most rules survive because deleting one feels riskier than leaving it in. Nobody ever has to defend them out loud.
The paper doesn't say whether the effect holds on already-lean prompts, or only on the bloated ones most people actually ship. Worth running the same test on your own instruction files and counting how many # why: lines you can actually fill in.
Each link below shares sources, entities, or timing with this story.
Shared entity: WildIFEval / Same source / Shared topic
Both cover WildIFEval; cite the same source (arXiv); overlapping topics (above, cannot, comment, each, instruction).
Shared entity: Adding / Same source domain / Shared topic / Earlier coverage / Tension
Both cover Adding; reported by the same outlet (arxiv.org); overlapping topics (context, each).
Shared entity: Adding / Same source domain / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Both cover Adding; reported by the same outlet (arxiv.org); overlapping topics (adding, each).
Shared entity: Adding / Same source domain / Earlier coverage / Tension
Both cover Adding; reported by the same outlet (arxiv.org); earlier Adding coverage from 2026-08-08.
Shared entity: Adding / Same source domain / Earlier coverage
Both cover Adding; reported by the same outlet (arxiv.org); earlier Adding coverage from 2026-08-06.
Both cover Adding; reported by the same outlet (arxiv.org); earlier Adding coverage from 2026-08-03.
Both cover Adding; reported by the same outlet (arxiv.org); earlier Adding coverage from 2026-08-03.
Both cover Adding; reported by the same outlet (arxiv.org); earlier Adding coverage from 2026-08-02.