Skip to content
Flows

What Flows just did

Based on your request to build Design Layered Tool Prompts with Preference Chains, Flows created 4 implementation stages and 12 checks.

You asked for: Rewrite a tool prompt as three ordered layers - preference chain, usage constraints, safety protocols - using positive alternatives, precise NEVER rules, and experience-based framing.. Flows generated 4 stages because the application requires A three-layer prompt: preferences first, usage rules second, safety protocols last; Every prohibition paired with a positive alternative ('Use Edit, NOT sed'); NEVER rules reserved for destructive operations, each with an explicit-user-request exception. Each stage tells your AI builder what to do, tests whether it actually worked, and gives a repair instruction when it fails. These checks are designed to catch: One flat list where preferences, mechanics, and safety rules interleave randomly; Bare prohibitions ('do not use sed') with no alternative, leaving the model to guess; NEVER used for trivia, diluting its force for the operations that matter.

Example failure

The form reported success, but no database record was created.

What Flows does

Flows detects the failure, generates a repair instruction, reruns the test, and stores the passing evidence.

Stages — Plan → Build → Test → Fix → Prove → Ship

4 stages · 12 checks · progressive disclosure — open a stage for details

Copy to external builder

Copies a prompt for Claude/Cursor/etc. Records prompt_copied only — not execution, commits, or checks.

Execute through Oort

Requires Sign in with Oort + a provider connection (BYOK). Keys stay on Oort. A model name in the dropdown is not the same as a live connection.

Next

Check off: Every line assigned to preference/usage/safety

Add a proof note on each check — a checkbox alone is weak proof.

Probes & advanced tools are under “More verification tools”. Experience level: Settings.

Design Layered Tool Prompts with Preference Chains
Harness Engineering60-90 minutes

Project (saved with proof)

Project binding: Unbound — complete project binding before trusting this run · missing repositoryUrl, repositoryStartCommit, environment, stack

More verification tools (probes, timeline, adapters)Show

App persistence (create → read → assert token)

Body template: {"probe":"{{token}}","title":"flows-probe-{{token}}"}. Needs CORS-readable public create/list endpoints (or inconclusive). Badge only when create→read→refresh finds the token (detects false success).

Two-account authorization (User B cannot see/change User A)

Authorization evidence source: Cross-account ownership test (trust level 5/6). These are not equivalent. Unauthenticated probe alone is weaker (source: unauthenticated API probe). Tokens stay in this browser session only — not uploaded to Flows servers.

Generated edge-case tests (review / approve)

  • api_probe Submitting the form empty is rejected with a clear error
  • api_probe Each required field can be omitted and fails validation
  • api_probe Malformed email is rejected
  • api_probe Malformed phone is rejected when phone is collected
  • api_probe Duplicate submission does not create two records
  • api_probe Double-click submit creates only one record
  • false_success_probe Failed request does not show success
  • browser_automation Refresh during submission does not leave corrupt state
  • api_probe Oversized input is rejected
  • api_probe Unsafe strings do not execute or break storage
  • api_probe Create then refresh still shows the record
  • api_probe Edit then refresh keeps the edit
  • api_probe Delete then refresh removes the record
  • api_probe Nonexistent record ID fails cleanly
  • cross_account_probe Cross-user record identifier is rejected

Generated from this route’s signals — you approve; you do not invent security tests.

Content probe (GET body contains text)

In-product content probe reads response text when CORS allows — not full DOM/click automation. Playwright script is optional and external.

Proof strength

thin · 0/100

Heuristic from notes + probes + gates — not a production certification.

Verification adapters

  • Deploy URL probe · idle
  • API path probe · idle
  • Authz probe (unauth → 401/403) · idle
  • Browser persistence · idle
  • App persistence (create→read) · idle
  • Content / body text probe · idle
  • In-product Playwright DOM · not embedded (download external script)

Filled circles = available here. Empty = not shipped. Probes are not a production audit. Adapter docs

0/4 steps0%
Recording plan identity…

Step 1 of 4

Not started

Audit the current tool prompt

You cannot layer what you have not inventoried.

Flows keeps plan, checks, failures, and next steps connected

Your AI tool writes or changes the code

Repository grounds the plan only after inspect

Checks always carry a validation tier

Not checkedChecks not locked

How this plan was created

Plan from project details

Flows creates steps using the goal, requirements, stack, platform, and details you provide.

  • Project description
  • Selected template / route
  • User-entered stack
  • Constraints and notes
  • Design Layered Tool Prompts with Preference Chains

No repository inspection implied. Connect and inspect a codebase to ground steps in real files.

Codebase access

Checking GitHub…

Or paste a repository URL manually
Plan instructions

Use these instructions in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Emergent, or another builder.

Take one tool prompt from your agent (the shell/exec tool is the best candidate) and classify every line into three buckets: PREFERENCE (which tool or approach to choose - 'read files with the Read tool, not cat'), USAGE (mechanics - absolute paths, chaining commands, timeouts, output limits), and SAFETY (destructive operations, credentials, force-push class rules). Flag lines that are prohibitions without an alternative, lines that bury safety rules mid-list, and duplicated or contradictory rules. Count tokens per bucket so you know where the budget goes. Produce a table: line, bucket, problem, rewrite-needed yes/no.

The AI tool writes code — Flows only organizes the plan · Complete implementation prompt with explicit requirements

Project context

Copies the project goal, technical details, current step, previous progress, and checks so your AI tool understands what it is working on.

Expected after this step

A classified inventory of the tool prompt with problems flagged.

Should not happen

  • One flat list where preferences, mechanics, and safety rules interleave randomly
  • Bare prohibitions ('do not use sed') with no alternative, leaving the model to guess
  • NEVER used for trivia, diluting its force for the operations that matter
  • Safety rules framed so heavily the model refuses routine safe work

Verify gate — prove this step works before continuing

Do not move on until every check is true. Add proof notes — a checked box alone is weak proof. Checks are manual by default; deploy/API probes live under “More verification tools” and do not auto-check boxes.

Do not continue if…

  • !One flat list where preferences, mechanics, and safety rules interleave randomly
  • !Bare prohibitions ('do not use sed') with no alternative, leaving the model to guess
  • !NEVER used for trivia, diluting its force for the operations that matter
  • !Safety rules framed so heavily the model refuses routine safe work

Repair path — if this step fails

Use the Repair Prompt when a verify gate fails. Loop: Detected → Diagnosed → Repair issued → Changed → Retested → Resolved

Show repair prompt textShow

The audit says everything is 'usage'. Re-check: any line naming a competing tool or approach is a PREFERENCE, and any line about irreversible effects is SAFETY - if those buckets are empty, the prompt is missing them, which is itself the finding.

Your notes for this step

Definition of Done

Final route-level requirements. Manual checks — separate from per-step verify gates. Completing step gates does not auto-check these. Route completion is not a production-ready claim.

0/4 · manual