# Ask For The Plan Before The Code

> A two-step prompt that catches bad approaches before you have 200 lines of them.

- **Author:** [Aarav Sharma (@aarav_sharma)](https://promptabide.com/aarav_sharma)
- **Published:** 2026-09-09
- **Updated:** 2026-09-21
- **Tags:** `code review`, `code-generation`, `plan first`, `prompt-engineering`, `two step prompting`, `workflow`
- **Keywords:** plan first, two step prompting, code review
- **Views:** 10192
- **Likes:** 458

## Prompt

```
The failure mode with code generation is not bad syntax. It is a confidently written 200-line implementation of the wrong approach.

**The fix is two prompts:**

Prompt one: "Here is the problem and the constraints. Do not write code yet. Give me two or three approaches with the trade-off of each, and say which you would pick."

Read it. Disagree if you disagree. Then:

Prompt two: "Go with approach 2. Now write it."

This costs you thirty seconds and saves the review cycle where you realise on line 180 that the whole thing assumes single-tenant.

It also surfaces assumptions early. Half the time the plan reveals the model misread a requirement, and that is much cheaper to fix in a plan than in code.
```

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