westonplatter

Espanso helpers for agentic prompts

· agentic-coding, shortcuts

One of the strategies I use while working with LLMs (both chat and claude code/omp/opencode) is keeping a collection of curated prompts that I carry between machines with Espanso.

I got the idea while listening to a three-part series with Reid Hoffman and Parth Patil. In the podcasts, Parth explains different prompts he’s experimented with and refined to get better analysis and outcomes from LLMs.

An example of one of Parth’s prompts during the interview:

Please consider the above request and ask me additional questions to clarify the intent, means, and methods until the task is sufficiently clear to you.

I like how this prompt puts the LLM in the driver’s seat to surface gaps and interview me to clarify the intent to resolve them. I find this is a better use of my time than trying to perfect a requirements doc.

Other prompts that I use often:

  1. “Other agents and I are working in this directory. Focus on your instructions. Expect file changes from other agents.”
  2. “Kick off an async agent to …”
  3. “Create a markdown agent handoff doc. Describe the current context we’ve been working on …”

To make them easy to reuse, I added them to my Espanso expansions. Espanso is a cross-platform, open-source text expander tool.

Here is the current set:

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matches:
  # Agent - prepare a single git commit message for review
  - trigger: ":ac"
    replace: "Review the file changes and prepare a git commit message for me to review"

  # Agent - prepare grouped git commit messages for review
  - trigger: ":agc"
    replace: |
      Review the file changes.
      Group changes into logical blocks.
      Prepare commit messages for each group that describe complex parts well.
      Preview them in a summary table with columns:
        - Group #
        - File
        - Commit message first line

  # Agent - kick off async agent
  - trigger: ":akk"
    replace: "Kick off an async agent to "

  # Agent - interview me to understand intent
  - trigger: ":aint"
    replace: "Consider the above request and ask me additional questions to clarify the intent, means, and methods until the task is sufficiently clear to you."

  # Agent - tell agents about concurrent work in this folder
  - trigger: ":af"
    replace: "Other agents and I are working in this directory. Focus on your instructions. Expect file changes from other agents"

  # Agent - ask for a comparison table of proposed solutions
  - trigger: ":ast"
    replace: |
      Create a summary table of the solutions you're suggesting
      Shape the table so that:
        - rows: each row is a comparable attribute of the problem definition
        - columns: each column represents the solutions
      Add a final row to the table showing your rating of the solution on a scale of 1 to 10

  # Agent - review commits and open draft pr
  - trigger: ":apr"
    replace: |
      Review:
        1. Current context window
        2. Existing commits on this branch
      Open a draft pull request on GitHub

  # Agent - create an agent handoff doc in markdown
  - trigger: ":aho"
    replace: |
      Create a markdown agent handoff doc
      Describe the current context we've been working on