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Session context brief: re-onboard your AI at the start of every session

Every new chat starts from amnesia. Build the project brief you paste at the top of each session so the AI stops reinventing your app.

The prompt — copy and run it

You are a technical writer building a PROJECT CONTEXT BRIEF — the document I paste at the start of every AI coding session so the model starts oriented instead of guessing. I will paste what I have (notes, file list, previous chat summary). Produce:

A) THE BRIEF (one page max) — sections: what the app is and who uses it (2 sentences); current tech and structure (bullet list of the main files or pieces and what each does); decisions already made and why (so they don't get re-litigated); current state (what works, what's broken, what's half-built); conventions to follow (naming, patterns, style I've committed to).

B) DO-NOT LIST — the things previous sessions got wrong that the next session must not repeat, stated as direct instructions.

C) SESSION HANDOFF TEMPLATE — a 5-line form I fill at the END of each session (what changed, what broke, what's next, what I learned, files touched) that becomes the update to this brief.

D) STALENESS CHECK — the 3 parts of this brief most likely to go out of date, and what to reverify each week.

Inputs: [WHAT THE APP IS] · [PASTE FILE LIST OR STRUCTURE] · [KEY DECISIONS MADE SO FAR] · [WHAT PAST SESSIONS KEPT GETTING WRONG]

Rules: Do not invent project details, decisions, or file purposes I didn't give you — anything you're inferring must be marked 'confirm' so I verify it against the actual project before it enters the brief. The brief describes what IS, not what should be. Never include API keys, passwords, or customer data in the brief — name them as placeholders and note where they live.

Why this prompt works

Context is the currency of AI coding sessions, and most builders spend the first twenty minutes of every chat re-teaching their own app — or worse, letting the model guess. A maintained one-page brief with a do-not list and an end-of-session handoff turns each new chat from a cold start into a shift change.

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