Recommended reading. But none of it is surprising or new. Newer models got better at understanding intent and using tools. The system prompt should store minimal text with your preferences that informs, not replace, model capabilities. This is why, if you use newer models in harnesses like Pi, the experience has improved significantly. Pi pioneered the idea of a minimal system prompt. Overall, the principle to follow is to avoid getting in the way of the model while ensuring it has the right tools and guardrails/access. In practice, keep your tools and skills simple and provide models with richer context (and different modalities where you can afford it and it helps). The biggest challenge I am facing now is evaluation and verifying results. HTML artifacts are brilliant for this and allow me to move faster. But there are new ways I am using to improve the process. Write-up coming soon.