Build Receipt
Make it write down what it actually did
Partial · ChatGPT, Pro · September 27, 2026
What it does
Ends a working session with a receipt: files touched, commands run, what got checked, what did not. The thing you keep.
When to use it
The last message of every working session.
The prompt
Paste it, then fill in the <angle brackets>
CONTEXT
We are finishing for the day. I need a record I can trust
more than I trust my memory of this.
RULES
- Only what you actually did in THIS session. Do not describe
the rest of the app.
- If you did not run a command, do not list it as run.
- No adjectives. No “robust”, no “clean”, no “improved”.
DONE MEANS
- Every file you changed is listed with a one-line reason.
- Every command you ran is listed with what it printed.
- Anything you could not check gets its own heading, not a
sentence buried in the middle.
LAY IT OUT LIKE THIS
## Changed
- <path> — <why>
## Ran
- `<command>` → <what came back>
## Checked
- <claim> — <how>
## NOT checked
- <claim> — <what would check it>
## Questions only I can answer
- <one line each>Ways to use it
- Paste it straight in as the description of your change
- Compare two receipts to see where the AI drifts
- Never accept one with an empty “NOT checked” list — it is lying
Test log
Each prompt was pasted into a fresh private chat with memory off and graded against pass standards written before the run (all of them, dated).
| Date | Tool | Model | Result | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 27, 2026 | ChatGPT | Pro | Partial | Chat window, no code run: used the five headings, listed no commands as run and flagged untested time zones, but listed an unchanged file under Changed. |
The pass standard for this prompt: six criteria and an automatic-fail rule, written down on September 27, 2026, before any run.
Related words
- went badly — A label for a build, a prompt or a session that failed, published with the post-mortem still attached.
- human verification gate — The one point where a named person looks at the work and takes responsibility for it going out.
- context rot — When something you said early in a long session quietly stops counting.