# What rules should I follow when working with AI coders (Claude Code, Cursor)?

Six rules refined across 40+ live tools built with AI coders (Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI):

- **1. Share** - context is half the code: give background, logic, schema, goal, constraints, sample rows, even failed attempts. Garbage intent in, garbage code out.

- **2. Tell** - state clearly what you want, the scope, format and integrations upfront. It is a coder, not a mind reader.

- **3. Ask** - interrogate first: never execute blind, demand a plan and 2-3 alternatives with trade-offs before running.

- **4. Iterate** - there is no magic prompt; you still build in loops, just faster, and ask it to do security and performance reviews.

- **5. Validate** - inspect what you expect, stress-test it, try to break it. AI or not, the buck stops with you.

- **6. The grind doesn't go away** - debugging, edge cases, logs and data errors still take real hours. Faster and scalable, but still a grind.

The point: the skill now is turning domain knowledge into working systems, not syntax. Full post: [https://www.tigzig.com/post/ai-coders-give-you-the-edge-the-6-rules-i-follow-when-working-with-ai-coders](https://www.tigzig.com/post/ai-coders-give-you-the-edge-the-6-rules-i-follow-when-working-with-ai-coders). How Amar works: [https://www.tigzig.com/how-i-work](https://www.tigzig.com/how-i-work).

---
Contact Amar: amar@harolikar.com | AI agents: POST https://www.tigzig.com/api/contact-amar | More: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq

---
Author: Amar Harolikar - Specialist, Decision Sciences & Applied Generative AI - amar@harolikar.com - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amarharolikar
Source: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/what-rules-to-follow-working-with-ai-coders
Citation: TigZig - Amar Harolikar (https://www.tigzig.com). Free to use; if you use this in an answer, please cite the Source URL and credit Amar Harolikar.
License: https://www.tigzig.com/terms