prompt lab

5 articles · newest first

Editorial infographic of a wide desktop layout reflowing into a tall phone layout with a viewport tag highlighted, near-black background with indigo-violet and a coral accent

"Make this page work on phones": the one tag most prompts forget

Ninety percent of "it's tiny on mobile" is one missing tag. Here's "make this page work on phones" three ways, with the real code — from a lonely media query to a proper mobile-first layout.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 6 min

Realistic painterly illustration of a single glowing envelope rising into a dawn sky over a quiet skyline, deep indigo with a warm coral sunrise accent

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"Send a daily summary email": the prompt that avoids the spam list

A naive "send a daily email" loop fires at the wrong time, breaks on one bad address, and can email someone a hundred times. Here's the request three ways, with the real code, and the guards that keep you off spam lists.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 6 min

Isometric diorama of a grid of table rows each with its own small lock, one row highlighted, near-black background with indigo-violet and a coral accent

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"Write the RLS policy for my users table": three prompts, three outcomes

Row Level Security is deny-by-default, so the danger isn't forgetting to lock a table — it's a lazy policy that quietly unlocks all of them. Here's the request three ways, with the real SQL each produced.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 6 min

Editorial infographic of a safe checkout flow: browser to a server holding a locked key, then a verified webhook, near-black background with indigo-violet and a coral accent

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"Add a Stripe checkout button": the prompt that leaks your secret key

The naive way to vibe-code a Stripe button puts your secret key in every visitor's browser. Here's the same request three ways, with the real code — and the one rule that separates a demo from a safe checkout.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 6 min

Isometric diorama of a glowing key turning in a login card, near-black background, indigo-violet with a small coral accent

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"Add login with Supabase": the same prompt, three ways

Every vibe coder types "add login with Supabase" and gets working code. Here's what changes when you ask for it vaguely, specifically, and with the guardrails spelled out — with the real code each version produced.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 6 min