How to Write Better Prompts for Bolt, Lovable, and Cursor

You and your friend both use Cursor. You both ask for "a simple to-do app." Three hours later, your friend has a working app with auth, persistence, and a clean UI. You have a pile of files, a broken login, and a database that won't connect. Same model. Different prompt. People talk about prompt engineering like mysticism. It isn't. It's closer to a checklist. Here's the checklist — plus templates you can copy. Why Most Prompts Fail Bad prompts share a few patterns. The AI isn't guessing malicio