The builder loop
Every tool in this course follows the same loop.
1. Spot the repeat
Find work that keeps coming back: the weekly report, the same customer reply, the same handoff, the same list cleanup.
2. Name the job
Define what the tool is supposed to do. Not vaguely. A tool needs a job it can actually perform.
3. Shape the behavior
Give the tool context, rules, examples, limits, and an output format.
4. Check the work
Do not trust fluent output. Test the result against the job.
5. Save the tool
Make the working version reusable so you do not start from scratch next time.
6. Refresh the tool
The quiet step most people skip. When the tool gets something wrong, the correction goes into the tool — a new rule, a new example, a new check — not just into today's output. Fix the output and you fixed one day. Fix the tool and you fixed every day after.
Prompts, checklists, scripts, AI project workspaces, and agents are all versions of this loop. The tool changes. The loop stays.