KERNEL — Explicit constraints
KERNEL — Explicit constraints
Distillation — one idea, in my words
- Write the irreducible insight. 50–120 words.
- State the claim/definition in one sentence first.
- Remove source phrasing; keep mechanism or rule.
- If you feel the need for “and,” split into another atom.
State what the model must not do and the hard bounds it must respect. Negative directives and caps (libraries, line limits, runtime, style bans) prune the search space and suppress unwanted behavior.
Why it matters – 1-3 bullets on utility, mechanism, implication.
- What decision does this change?
- What prediction does this enable?
- What failure does this prevent?
- Reduces hallucinated extras.
- Improves determinism and safety.
- Lowers edit cost by preventing overreach.
Links
- Does this collide/agree with an existing atom?
- Add at least one forward link to a molecule/canonical note.
- Add one tag-like topic (2–5 terms, not a dump).
- Broader topic: #guardrails
- Related atoms:
- Upstream source note:
Source excerpt (optional)
Paste exact quote or figure caption.
“Tell AI what NOT to do.”
Citation block (optional)
Source: {{source}} • Page: {{page}} • Key: {{citekey}}
volodith. “After 1000 Hours of Prompt Engineering, I Found the 6 Patterns That Actually Matter.” Reddit, r/PromptEngineering, September 29, 2025. https://www.reddit.com/r/PromptEngineering/comments/1nt7x7v/after_1000_hours_of_prompt_engineering_i_found/.