Welcome to the Coder B Dev Journal

Hey, I’m Brad. I build lean, low-maintenance SaaS with a boring, reliable stack (.NET, Docker, MySQL). This blog is where I keep it practical: what shipped, what broke, and how to go faster without shipping spaghetti.

To make this intro useful, here are 8 underused prompt patterns that consistently save me time. No “act as a…” fluff—just stuff that works.

What this blog is (and isn’t)

• Practical. Real architecture, deployment, pricing, and marketing notes from active projects.
• Honest. If something face-plants, I’ll say so and show the fix.
• Short. You’re busy. Me too. No 20-minute think pieces.

What I’m building right now

• Billivio — flexible non-subscription billing infra (one-time, multi-use, pay-per-use).
• Daklens — CSV cleanup/transforms that don’t suck.
• Board Stash — a lightweight public idea board (ship ideas, get feedback).

If you follow along, you’ll see the unglamorous details: containers, networks, edge cases, pricing experiments, and the occasional “why did Cloudflare do that” moment.

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• Diff-Only Patch
  “Make the smallest change to satisfy: <requirements>.
  Return a unified diff for the exact file(s). No extra commentary.”
• Schema-Then-Stuff
  “Propose a strict JSON schema for the output. Wait for ‘OK’.
  After ‘OK’, return data that validates exactly. No extra keys.”
• Assumption Gate
  “List assumptions as [{text:'…', confidence:0–100}].
  If any <80% confidence, ask up to 3 high-leverage questions, once.”
• Test-First, Then Code
  “Write a minimal unit test for <function>. Then the implementation that passes it.
  Return in order: 1) test, 2) implementation. Keep both self-contained.”
• Three-Question Rule
  “If missing info blocks progress, ask max 3 questions at once.
  If unanswered, proceed with sensible defaults and list them.”
• Self-Grader
  “Score against: accuracy, actionability, brevity, risk callouts, next step.
  Return {score:0–10, fails:[…], final:'<revised>'}. Final only.”
• One-File Containment
  “Only modify /src/Program.cs.
  If other files are needed, note them but don’t edit.
  Return a unified diff for that file only.”
• Final-Only Mode
  “Return the final answer only—no explanations.
  If uncertain, output ‘unknown’ and list up to 2 verification steps.”

What’s next here

Expect short, practical posts on:

• Shipping features without breaking prod
• Billing & metering patterns (one-time, multi-use, pay-per-use)
• Automation with n8n + MCP
• Marketing that isn’t cringe (and actually moves a metric)

If you’re into real builds over hype, you’ll feel at home.

— Brad