Build with AI: From Zero to Your First App · Module 1: Your first steps with AI · Lab
Complete the Missing Context
25 min hands-on · Core
Browser only. The broken conversation below is provided as starter material; you need no account anywhere.
Three ways to do this lab. A: the browser steps below, the main path, free with no account. B: try the same task with your own AI tool if you have one (its terms and quotas apply). C: work from the provided material and the worked solution below, which teaches the same skill. No path claims you used a live AI tool when you did not.
Objectives
- Find the four context slots in a sample conversation: goal, current state, limits, output shape
- Move each piece of context to the message where it belongs
- Rewrite the first message so a fresh chat would produce a usable answer
Step 1
Read the broken conversation
Below is a three-turn conversation that goes nowhere. Read it once, then label what is wrong: which of the four slots (goal, current state, limits, output shape) is missing or in the wrong turn?
broken-chat.mdmarkdown Turn 1 (user): I need help with my shop. Turn 1 (AI): Sure! What kind of shop, and what would you like to create? Turn 2 (user): Just make it good. Something modern. Turn 2 (AI): Here is a generic homepage with a hero section, three features and a footer. Let me know if you want changes! Turn 3 (user): That is not what I sell. Never mind, I will restart. Hidden facts the user never said: a neighborhood bakery, phone orders only, one page, three sections (products, hours, phone ordering), simple language, no online shop.Step 2
Place the four slots
Take the hidden facts and assign each to its slot: GOAL (what to make), CURRENT STATE (what exists today), LIMITS (what to exclude), OUTPUT SHAPE (what the answer should look like). Write each slot as one sentence.
Step 3
Rewrite turn 1
Write a new first message that carries all four slots at once. Then write the follow-up you would send if the hours section came back wrong. Keep both under 120 words combined.
How to confirm it worked
- All four slots are named with one sentence each, using the hidden facts
- The rewritten first message carries goal, current state, limits and output shape together
- The follow-up points at one section and states the change, instead of restarting
- Total stays under 120 words: precision, not length
Workspace
0/4 checks passing · Coverage only, not a quality score.
Draft kept in this browser.
Hints, in three stages
Stage 1: a nudge
'Just make it good' is the failure. Ask yourself what the tool could possibly do with that sentence alone.
Stage 2: a direction
'No online shop' is a limit, not a goal. 'Three sections with two sentences each' is output shape, not current state. Sort before you write.
Stage 3: almost the answer
A good follow-up names the section, keeps what works, and states the single change. Copy the shape from lesson 2.
Worked solution (open after an honest attempt)
Worked solution. Slots: GOAL: a one-page site for a neighborhood bakery that takes phone orders. CURRENT STATE: customers order by phone today; there is no site yet. LIMITS: no online shop or payment; simple language. OUTPUT SHAPE: list three sections first (products, hours, phone ordering), then two sentences per section. Rewritten turn 1: 'My neighborhood bakery takes phone orders and has no site. I want a one-page site with three sections: products, opening hours, phone ordering. List the sections first, then write two sentences for each. Simple language, no online shop.' Follow-up: 'Keep the three sections, but rewrite the hours section: closed on Mondays, and orders for next-day pickup must call before 18:00.' Combined under 120 words, every slot covered, nothing to restart.