Preventing Feature Skipping in Lovable Code Generation

Why Lovable ignores details without clear prompt structure

Large language models process text sequentially and have limited attention for long, unstructured prompts. When you send a prompt with 10 requirements described in paragraph form, the AI focuses on the most prominent ones and may silently skip others, especially those mentioned briefly at the end. This is different from the 'ensuring all features' page because it focuses specifically on preventing the AI from skipping items — the mechanics of why features get dropped and the specific techniques to ensure every single requirement is addressed. The key insight is that numbered lists, explicit completion tracking, and post-generation verification form a closed loop that catches omissions. Lovable's AI performs best with clear, structured input. A numbered list of 5 items is much harder to skip than 5 sentences in a paragraph. And asking the AI to confirm which items it completed creates accountability that reduces the chance of silent omissions.

• Requirements written as prose paragraphs instead of numbered lists
• Too many features requested in a single prompt, exceeding the AI's reliable processing capacity
• Critical details mentioned briefly at the end of a long prompt where AI attention is lowest
• No post-generation verification step to catch skipped items
• Dependencies between features are not made explicit, so the AI skips dependent features

Error messages you might see

Before you start

• A Lovable project where you need multiple features implemented completely
• A written list of all requirements before starting
• Familiarity with Plan Mode and @file references

How to fix it

// Prose prompt (easy to skip items):
// "Build a settings page with a profile section where users can
// update their name and email, a notification preferences section
// with toggle switches, a password change form, and a delete account
// button with a confirmation dialog."

// Numbered list (hard to skip):
// Build a settings page with these features:
// 1. Profile section with name and email text inputs
// 2. A Save button that updates the profile in Supabase
// 3. Notification preferences section with 3 toggle switches:
//    Email notifications, Push notifications, SMS notifications
// 4. Password change form with: current password, new password,
//    confirm password fields and a Change Password button
// 5. Delete Account button (red, at the bottom) that shows a
//    confirmation dialog before deleting

// No completion tracking:
// "Build these 5 features" → AI responds with code
// You assume everything is done but item 4 is missing

// With completion tracking:
// "Build these 5 features. After implementation, confirm which
// items you completed:
// 1. Profile section with name/email inputs ✓/✗
// 2. Save button connected to Supabase ✓/✗
// 3. Notification toggles (3 switches) ✓/✗
// 4. Password change form ✓/✗
// 5. Delete account with confirmation dialog ✓/✗"
//
// AI response: "Completed items 1, 2, 3, 5.
// Item 4 was not implemented because [reason]."

// All features in one prompt:
// "Build the entire settings page with 5 features"

// One feature per prompt:
// Prompt 1: "Create @src/pages/Settings.tsx with a profile
// section showing name and email inputs"
// → Verify in preview ✓
//
// Prompt 2: "Add a Save button to @src/pages/Settings.tsx
// that updates the profile in Supabase"
// → Verify by clicking Save ✓
//
// Prompt 3: "Add notification preference toggles to
// @src/pages/Settings.tsx: Email, Push, and SMS"
// → Verify by toggling each switch ✓

// Skipping Plan Mode → hoping everything is included

// Plan Mode first:
// "Plan the implementation of these 5 features.
// For each numbered item, describe which file you will
// modify and what the implementation will look like.
// Do not write code yet."
//
// Review plan → all 5 items listed → "Implement the plan"

Complete code example

1# Feature Implementation Rules
2
3## Prompt Processing
4- Treat every numbered item as a required feature
5- Do NOT skip any numbered item
6- If an item cannot be implemented, explain why in your response
7- After implementation, list completion status of each item
8
9## Implementation Order
101. Read all numbered requirements first
112. Plan the implementation of ALL items before coding
123. Implement items in the order listed
134. After each item, verify it works before moving to the next
145. Report completion status at the end
15
16## When Requirements Are Unclear
17- Ask for clarification instead of guessing
18- Do not interpret 'etc.' or 'and so on' — ask for the specific items
19- If a requirement conflicts with another, flag it
20
21## Quality Checks
22- Every button must have a working onClick handler
23- Every form must have proper validation
24- Every table must handle the empty state
25- Every list must handle pagination if more than 20 items
26
27## Response Format
28After implementing features, respond with:
29- Completed: [list of completed item numbers]
30- Skipped: [list of skipped item numbers with reasons]
31- Modified files: [list of files changed]

Best practices to prevent this

• Always use numbered lists for requirements — never prose paragraphs
• Put the most critical features first in the list — AI attention is highest at the beginning
• Add 'Confirm completion of each numbered item' to the end of every multi-feature prompt
• Build one feature at a time for critical requirements like payments and authentication
• Use Plan Mode for any prompt with more than 3 requirements to verify the plan before building
• Verify each feature in the preview immediately after generation, before sending the next prompt
• If a feature is skipped, send a dedicated follow-up prompt for just that feature with @file reference
• Add feature implementation rules to AGENTS.md to make the AI report completion status automatically

Still stuck?

Copy one of these prompts to get a personalized, step-by-step explanation.

Related error patterns