David SmithFeb 7

Reading through the System Prompts / Hints that Xcode 26.3 injects into the agents is fascinating..and honestly is just helpful documentation to read…essentially concise examples of best practices and implementations recommendations.

Reminds me of the old programming "Guides" which apple used to publish alongside the main documentation which were more focused on how to use the API, than what it was.

There're in: Xcode.app/Contents/PlugIns/IDEIntelligenceChat.framework/Versions/A/Resources

Show threadMatt Massicotte
@_Davidsmith I have read a few, and I’m going to pose a question to you: how are you sure these are best practices?
Feb 7 at 7:12pmIndigo
Show threadDavid SmithFeb 7

@mattiem I’m not. I suppose for each of us the set of ‘best practices' we follow come from a combination of experience and contemplation. But moreover, it is super helpful to know what Apple thinks _are_ the best practices, or another way of saying it maybe is “how they expect/want us to use the API’s”.

Sometimes I find myself with another approach which works better for me, but it's best when I'm doing that intentionally and not accidentally.

Show threadMatt MassicotteFeb 7

@_Davidsmith right and I think this is *the question*. If you had to compress recommendations down into ~ a one-pager, what should be in it? Who should write it?

I think these documents are, while no doubt useful, *incredibly* lossy and yet are going to become the source of truth. It’s happening right now.

Show threadArmenFeb 7
@mattiem @_Davidsmith Shouldn't these be considered the source of truth because they are coming from Apple themselves? The craftiness comes from the developer while compiler and system efficient code comes from Apple. Not arguing that Apple will always produce system efficient code but it's the closest thing to truth than anything else for Xcode work.
Show threadMatt MassicotteFeb 7

@armengrewal @_Davidsmith i get what you are saying. Maybe. And yet I predict that these will regularly be used to counter new ideas.

“Well that can’t be right! It doesn’t match the official best practices.”

Documentation is very different from “here’s how you do it”.

Show threadArmenFeb 7
@mattiem @_Davidsmith I see what you are saying. A narrative aka documentation is better at explaining the full context while leaving room for the craftiness I was referring to. Now I’m worried and hope these don’t replace the official documentation.
Show threadMatt MassicotteFeb 7
@armengrewal @_Davidsmith I think it is possible that they (and other context-defining documents) already have.
Show threadDavid SmithFeb 7

@mattiem For sure, one of the things I'm most glad about for Apple making this a first party thing is that they now have some responsibility for doing a good job with the code Xcode is generating. If their prompts/best practices/models are building bad outputs then they can (and should )fix it.

But on the more positive side they also have a major opportunity, if they get it right, to improve the overall quality of some code written by steering away from known pitfalls or mistakes.

Show threadDaniel KasajFeb 8

@_Davidsmith @mattiem I am basically craving a way to teach these agents how to style the code... no force unwraps ever (yes not even that Calendar Date instance that just came to your mind), no shorthand if !isEnabled, no stupid 1-or-2-character property names etc

These .idechatprompttemplate discoveries made me hopeful there might be a way soon