PE-003: Weak Imperative Language - Prompt Engineering

Summary

• Rule ID: PE-003
• Severity: MEDIUM
• Category: Prompt Engineering
• Normative Level: SHOULD
• Auto-Fix: No
• Verified On: 2026-02-04

Applicability

• Tool: all
• Version Range: unspecified
• Spec Revision: unspecified

Evidence Sources

• https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.11903
• https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/build-with-claude/prompt-engineering/overview

Test Coverage Metadata

• Unit tests: true
• Fixture tests: true
• E2E tests: false

Examples

The following examples demonstrate what triggers this rule and how to fix it.

Invalid

# Critical Rules

You should follow the style guide.
Try to run linting before commits.

Valid

# Critical Rules

You must follow the style guide.
Always run linting before commits.