The prompt era’s hangover is automating the first demo that worked. This page is a deny-list so Bye Prompt does not read like a keynote.
If a job fails any of the tests below, keep it in chat or draft workflow. Promote it later, in writing.
Do not automate what you cannot evaluate
No acceptance tests → no agent. “I’ll know it when I see it” is allowed for your Saturday collage. It is not allowed for customer email.
Do not automate what you cannot undo
- Wire transfers, crypto sends, payroll
- Production schema migrations without a backup story
- Public posts and press
- Deleting archives
- Changing DNS / identity providers
Prepare the action. A human confirms. Human in the loop.
Do not automate the only copy of the truth
If the agent’s output becomes the record (inventory counts, medical notes, legal dates) and nothing else checks it, you have created a confident liar with a database handle.
Keep a source system of record. Let the agent propose. Reconcile.
Do not automate other people’s data by default
Customer PII, employee records, unpublished manuscripts, credentials, health data: out of consumer chat UIs unless you have a contract, a retention story, and a reason. Secrets.
“The model is smart” is not a DPA.
Do not automate ambiguous authority
“Handle my inbox” is not a spec. Whose voice? Which offers may be accepted? What is a commitment?
Write authority down or the agent will politely agree to things you did not mean.
Do not automate taste as if it were a test
Brand, humor, editorial voice, architecture taste — models can draft. They cannot be the art director of record unless you like averaging the internet. Use them as junior, not as principal.
Creative vertical: Create By Prompt and pattern: making.
Do not automate the incident
When production is on fire, extra autonomy is not a gift. Freeze agents that can spend, deploy, or email customers. Humans with runbooks. Afterward, maybe write a workflow for the boring parts of the postmortem.
Do not automate compliance theater
Auto-generated “we take privacy seriously” pages, fake testimonials, undisclosed medical claims: that is not efficiency. That is how you get banned from ads and worse. This site will not help you do it.
A promotion checklist (when you do automate)
If you cannot tick these, you are still in the prompt box. That is allowed. Stay there until the job deserves a system.