Instruction Elaboration

Instructions with too few tokens are effectively invisible. Instructions padded with generic filler are weaker than shorter, specific ones. The ideal instruction uses multiple DISTINCT relevant terms — each naming a different concrete aspect of the desired behavior.

Antipatterns

• Terse instruction: "Format code." or "Run tests." — too few distinct tokens to register in context. The diagnostic flags instructions below the minimum token count.
• Padded with filler: "When writing tests in this project's codebase, please ensure that you avoid using mock objects." The filler tokens ("when writing", "please ensure that you") dilute signal without adding distinct terms.
• Repetitive terms instead of diverse ones: "Use ruff for linting. ruff catches errors. ruff runs fast." Repeating the same term does not increase distinctness — the diagnostic measures unique relevant terms, not total word count.
• Generic class names instead of specifics: "Use a testing framework" instead of "Use pytest with @pytest.mark.parametrize for boundary cases in tests/." Named constructs are distinct terms; generic descriptions are not.

Pass / Fail

Pass

Use `pytest` with `@pytest.mark.parametrize` for boundary cases in
`tests/unit/`. Run `uv run poe qa_fast` before committing.
*Do NOT use `unittest.mock` or `MagicMock`.*

Fail

Run tests.

Fix

Elaborate instructions with multiple specific, diverse terms — each naming a different concrete aspect. "Do not use unittest.mock, MagicMock, @patch, or any test double for external service boundaries. Test against real implementations — real database connections, real HTTP endpoints, real queue consumers." Each named construct strengthens the instruction independently. Do NOT pad with generic filler: "when writing tests in this project's codebase, please ensure that you avoid using..." — filler tokens dilute without strengthening.

Limitations

Measures token count and term distinctness. Cannot evaluate whether the chosen terms are the most relevant for the intended behavior.