Troubleshooting

Agent Keeps Changing Too Much?

Fix the “I asked for one small edit and it rewrote everything” loop with a scope-lock workflow that non-technical users can run in minutes.

A common trust-break moment: you ask for one tweak, then your agent changes tone, structure, or whole sections you didn’t ask for.

This is usually a scope control problem, not a “bad model” problem.

Most common symptom

“I just wanted one sentence changed, but now my whole doc feels different.”

2-Minute Scope-Lock Recovery

Name the exact target (file + section heading + line/snippet).
Set hard boundaries: “change only X, keep everything else identical.”
Require a change plan first (no edits yet).
Approve the plan, then request edits.
Ask for a diff summary: what changed and what did not.

Known-Good Prompt (Copy/Paste)

You are editing with strict scope control.
Task: Change only [exact sentence/section].
Target file: [path]
Boundaries:
- Do NOT rewrite structure
- Do NOT change tone/voice
- Do NOT edit any other section
Step 1: Show a 3-bullet edit plan only (no edits yet).
Step 2: Wait for my approval.
Step 3: Apply only approved changes.
Step 4: Return:
  a) exact changed lines/snippets
  b) “unchanged sections” confirmation list.

High-Friction Mistakes

1) Vague requests like “clean this up”

That invites broad rewriting. Use concrete change requests with explicit “do not touch” constraints.

2) Editing in a long/noisy thread

Old context can push style drift. Start a fresh thread for high-precision edits.

3) No preview/plan step

If you skip plan approval, you lose control early. Plan-first dramatically reduces over-editing.

4) No verification after edit

Always ask for changed snippets + unchanged confirmation so you can validate quickly.

Best practice

For critical docs, do edits in micro-batches: one section at a time. You’ll get better control and fewer surprises.

Escalation Packet (if it still over-edits)

Where you ran it (Dashboard / Discord DM / server channel)
Exact prompt used
What should have changed vs what changed
Whether you used a plan-first step
Before/after snippets (small redacted samples)
Timestamp + timezone

Don’t do this

Don’t paste a full 200-message history and ask for “one quick edit.” Large context increases drift risk and makes precision harder.