Developer AI Prompt Toolkit — 96 Prompts for Coding Assistants + VS Code/Cursor Snippets

Most prompt packs are one-liners. These are working prompts built to stop the usual AI-coding failures: guessing missing context, jumping to fixes too early, inventing APIs, and changing more than you asked for.

12 categories × 8 prompts: understanding unfamiliar code · debugging · code review · tests · refactoring · new code · documentation · git & workflow · data/SQL/performance · DevOps · working with AI coding agents · career & communication.

Each prompt:

• tells the AI what counts as the source of truth and asks it to mark guesses
• separates analysis from changes (ranked hypotheses before fixes, a plan before edits)
• asks for checkable output, such as tables, severities, commands and evidence
• includes {{placeholders}} you fill in, plus a note on when to use it

Formats

• Printable PDF with 5 ready workflows that chain prompts (new codebase, production bug, legacy refactor, agent feature, release).
• dev-prompts.code-snippets: type rc- in VS Code or Cursor, Tab through placeholders, and pick options from drop-downs.
• PROMPTS.md for Notion or Obsidian, prompts.json for your own tools, and a one-line index.

Works with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot Chat, Cursor, Claude Code and Codex, and with local models via Ollama or llama.cpp. Tips for small local models are included.

Honest notes: prompts make you faster and more thorough. They don't replace testing or review. Created with AI assistance and edited by hand. No affiliation with any AI vendor.