How I use Windsurf after countless hours of hit and miss
 how_i_use_windsurf_after_countless_hours_of_hit_and_miss

 source: <https://www.reddit.com/r/Codeium/comments/1joylze/how_i_use_windsurf_after_countless_hours_of_hit/>

I have tried a lot of strategies, but the one that gives me the best results is the following.

Open ChatGPT and ask

```md
"As a business analist with a specialization in software development,
your goal is to interview me, the client, on my project --
building a <insert summary>.
Do the interview in a conversatioinal style, asking me one question
at the time and delivering a detailed requirements document"
```

Continue in ChatGPT and ask:

```md
"As a software architect that is an expert on <your chosen frameworks>,
your goal is to analyze the requirements document and deliver a
detailed technical overview of the needed project structure and
infrastructure for this project"
```

Take that technical analysis document to Claude, Gemini 2.5 or whatever AI you trust will do a decent job and ask the following:

```md
"As a software engineer, specializing in <your chosen frameworks>,
it is your goal to analyse the requirements document and cross reference
it with the technical analysis and write a detailed behaviour-driven test
document in pseudo-code, covering all the happy- and error paths, in
order to achieve the highest possible code coverage for my project"
```

Take that pseudo-code test document to Claude, Gemini 2.5 or whatever AI you trust will do a decent job and ask the following:

```md
"As a expert prompt engineer and software engineer, specializing in
AI agents and <your chosen framework>, it is your goal to review
the BDD document, order the tests so they can be developed in isolation,
without needing to jump to later tests for dependecies, and create
AI prompts per test in the following format:
'As a <Role>, specializing in <Framework>, it is your goal to write <Test>.
You will write the test first, then execute <Test Command> and continue
to fix errors until the test passes. You will follow SOLID and DRY coding
principles, one class per file, no God classes (add more rules as
you see fit)"
```

Now add these documents in a `./docs` folder.

Then, create a `.windsurfrules` file in the root of your project.

Ask Windsurf:

```md
"Review the technical analysis document, then populate my
.windsurfrules document with the rules I need for this project.
Use the following template:

# Testing framework

- /src/my-test-project

## API Project

- /src/my-api-project

## Context documents

- /docs

## Coding style guidelines

- Always follow SOLID principles
- etc"
```

Now let it go to town writing your tests. I'd start with Claude 3.5 (less hallucinations) and just sit back and enjoy the ride ;)