Comment by mapontosevenths

There's no secret IMO. It's actually really simple to get good results. You just expect the same things from the LLM you would from a Junior. Use an MD file to force it to:

1) Include good comments in whatever style you prefer, document everything it's doing as it goes and keep the docs up to date, and include configurable logging.

2) Make it write and actually execute unit tests for everything before it's allowed to commit anything, again through the md file.

3) Ensure it learns from it's mistakes: Anytime it screws up tell it to add a rule to it's own MD file reminding it not to ever repeat that mistake again. Over time the MD file gets large, but the error rate plummets.

4) This is where it drifts from being treated as a standard Junior. YOU must manually verify that the unit tests are testing for the right thing. I usually add a rule to the MD file telling it not to touch them after I'm happy with them, but even then you must also now check that the agent didn't change them the first time it hit a bug. Modern LLM's are now worse at this for some reason. Probably because they're getting smart enough to cheat.

If you these basic things you'll get good results almost every time.