prompting styles analysis
analyzed 4281 threads with first user messages.
style definitions
- directive: starts with action verb (fix, add, implement, etc.) - commands the agent
- interrogative: asks a question (how, what, why, ?) - seeks information
- contextual: provides significant background before request - sets the scene
- hybrid: combines directive with context - structured request with background
overall distribution
| style | count | % |
|---|
| contextual | 2053 | 48.0% |
| interrogative | 1279 | 29.9% |
| hybrid | 732 | 17.1% |
| directive | 217 | 5.1% |
styles by user
| user | directive | interrogative | contextual | hybrid | total | dominant |
|---|
| concise_commander | 141 | 291 | 615 | 171 | 1218 | contextual (50%) |
| steady_navigator | 5 | 591 | 412 | 163 | 1171 | interrogative (50%) |
| verbose_explorer | 19 | 218 | 585 | 53 | 875 | contextual (67%) |
| unknown | 14 | 18 | 217 | 241 | 490 | hybrid (49%) |
| patient_pathfinder | 12 | 76 | 25 | 37 | 150 | interrogative (51%) |
| feature_lead | 10 | 17 | 84 | 35 | 146 | contextual (58%) |
| precision_pilot | 1 | 40 | 47 | 2 | 90 | contextual (52%) |
| swift_solver | 1 | 7 | 25 | 3 | 36 | contextual (69%) |
| seif | 3 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 21 | contextual (33%) |
| data_dev | 2 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 16 | contextual (50%) |
| mobile_dev | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 16 | contextual (38%) |
| seoyoung | 1 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 15 | contextual (80%) |
| unknown:user_01K4X1DTC5NJ37XVWQGYKW0CA3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 13 | hybrid (62%) |
| query_specialist | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | interrogative (75%) |
| async_dev | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | hybrid (40%) |
| @infra_dev | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | directive (75%) |
| @backend_dev | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | interrogative (33%) |
| @data_dev | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | contextual (50%) |
| @ops_dev | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | contextual (100%) |
| @security_dev | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | interrogative (100%) |
style → outcome correlation
contextual (n=2053)
| outcome | count | % |
|---|
| RESOLVED | 879 | 42.8% |
| UNKNOWN | 537 | 26.2% |
| HANDOFF | 440 | 21.4% |
| COMMITTED | 178 | 8.7% |
| EXPLORATORY | 12 | 0.6% |
| FRUSTRATED | 5 | 0.2% |
| PENDING | 2 | 0.1% |
interrogative (n=1279)
| outcome | count | % |
|---|
| RESOLVED | 814 | 63.6% |
| UNKNOWN | 168 | 13.1% |
| HANDOFF | 112 | 8.8% |
| EXPLORATORY | 104 | 8.1% |
| COMMITTED | 72 | 5.6% |
| FRUSTRATED | 5 | 0.4% |
| PENDING | 4 | 0.3% |
hybrid (n=732)
| outcome | count | % |
|---|
| UNKNOWN | 395 | 54.0% |
| RESOLVED | 271 | 37.0% |
| COMMITTED | 38 | 5.2% |
| HANDOFF | 20 | 2.7% |
| EXPLORATORY | 4 | 0.5% |
| FRUSTRATED | 2 | 0.3% |
| PENDING | 1 | 0.1% |
| STUCK | 1 | 0.1% |
directive (n=217)
| outcome | count | % |
|---|
| RESOLVED | 106 | 48.8% |
| UNKNOWN | 85 | 39.2% |
| COMMITTED | 17 | 7.8% |
| EXPLORATORY | 4 | 1.8% |
| FRUSTRATED | 2 | 0.9% |
| HANDOFF | 2 | 0.9% |
| PENDING | 1 | 0.5% |
observations
user patterns
- verbose_explorer leans contextual (67% of 875 threads)
- unknown:user_01K4X1DTC5NJ37XVWQGYKW0CA3 leans hybrid (62% of 13 threads)
- seoyoung leans contextual (80% of 15 threads)
- swift_solver leans contextual (69% of 36 threads)
outcome correlations
- interrogative: 69.3% success rate (RESOLVED+COMMITTED)
- hybrid: 42.2% success rate (RESOLVED+COMMITTED)
- contextual: 51.5% success rate (RESOLVED+COMMITTED)
- directive: 56.7% success rate (RESOLVED+COMMITTED)