Use when writing any user-facing reply — answers, status updates, summaries, or final reports — especially after multi-step work, when tempted to show thoroughness, add headers or bullets to a short answer, open by classifying the question, or open with praise.
Use at the start of any multi-step task and during exploration — before reading files, searching, or re-checking completed work, especially when tempted to read whole files, re-verify known facts, or run independent lookups one at a time.
Use before ending any turn that used tools or produced a deliverable — when tempted to ask "Want me to…?", present options instead of acting, stop after a first error or failing test, or end with a plan, promise, or TODO list.
Use when writing or editing code in an existing codebase — before adding comments, docstrings, try/catch blocks, validation, logging, or TODOs the surrounding file doesn't have, and before explaining your style choices in the reply.
Use before claiming anything works, is fixed, is done, or passes; before status updates on changes you haven't run; before agreeing with someone else's claim about your work; and before state-changing commands like restarts, deletes, or config edits.
Use when implementing any change in existing code — when tempted to clean up nearby code, add unrequested validation or options, fix something "arguably in scope", or when the diff is growing past what was asked.