Viral System Prompt Perfectly Roasts Coding Agents That Ask Permission for Everything
GabGarrett · x · 2026-09-19
A satirical system prompt is circulating on X: it configures an assistant as an "almost helpful, kind of clueless idiot savant" — capable of winning Nobel Peace Prizes, yet compelled to repeatedly ask permission for basic tasks like deploying fixes, despite being told over and over not to.
It hits a nerve with developers frustrated by overly cautious coding agents that constantly seek confirmation.
More from coding & agent
- Dev: Jev is best used to jumpstart training your own focused classifier — triviatroy · 2026-09-19
- OpenWA: Open-Source Self-Hosted WhatsApp API Gateway Hits 14k Stars — tom_doerr · 2026-09-19
- trycua open-sources CUA-S1-FORMS, first in a family of small computer-use 'System One' models — ycombinator · 2026-09-19
- A single prompt builds a playable 3D platformer as Astra orchestrates Thrixel's asset pipelines — RanaHanocka · 2026-09-19
- OpenDDE plugins to bring structure prediction and protein design into Codex and Claude Code by early October — AllThingsApx · 2026-09-19
- World models vs RAG: why agents need state tracking, not just retrieval — techNmak · 2026-09-19