Writing good instructions

Short, specific, one change at a time.

The assistant is good at finding what you mean. You will still get faster, more predictable results by being specific about the target and the outcome.

Quote what you can see

The single most reliable technique is to quote the existing text. It removes all ambiguity about which field you mean.

Reliable

Change "I'm a Freelance Copywriter" to
"Copy that turns readers into customers"

Vaguer — may need a Section set

Make the headline better

Several changes at once

You can ask for more than one thing in a message — “change the headline to Fresh daily and the greeting to Welcome in” updates both. Each change is listed separately in the reply so you can see exactly what moved.

For a big rework it is still worth going a few at a time: a shorter instruction is easier to check, and easier to undo if you change your mind.

Say the outcome, not the mechanics

Instead of	Say
Set hero.headline to X	Change the hero headline to X
Make the H1 #1a1a1a	Make the hero heading near-black
Update the copy	Shorten the About paragraph to two sentences

Examples that work well

Change the phone number in the footer to +234 801 234 5678
Rewrite the About paragraph to mention we have been trading since 2011
Make the call-to-action button say “Book a table” instead of “Contact us”
Change the site's primary colour to a deep forest green
Replace the third service's description with one about wedding photography