Keep improving one project from an empty folder to a responsive one-page site with an introduction, projects, and contact details. Every lesson adds a visible result or a check toward that finish line.
Curriculum
Personal brand site build path
01
Start With Codex
Set up Codex and build the hero section of your personal brand site.
Prevent context drift when Codex is working inside a live repository.
thread scopeworkspace statehandoff clarity
12-minute lab
Hands-on lab
Add a Back to top control to the personal brand site while keeping one task, one workspace, and one outcome. You will make Codex restate the boundary before it edits.
Before you start
Open my-brand-site with the completed theme switch from module two.
Start a new task named Add back to top; do not reuse the theme-planning task.
Do it now
Good prompt
Codex, this task has one outcome: add a clearly labeled Back to top control to index.html that returns from the Projects section to the hero. In scope: index.html and browser verification. Out of scope: redesigning styles, changing the theme switch, adding files, packages, or unrelated cleanup. Restate the boundary and likely checks first; wait for my approval before editing.
What success looks like
Only index.html changes, and every edit supports the Back to top outcome.
After moving to Projects, Back to top returns the page to the hero section.
The theme switch and existing button still work.
Stuck? Try this
If Codex mentions unrelated improvements, reply: “Those are out of scope. Restate only the Back to top task.”
If the diff includes cleanup or redesign, ask Codex to revert it and keep the smallest functional change.
Plain-language explanation
A thread is easiest to manage when it has one task, one workspace, and one current source of truth. That boundary helps Codex decide what belongs in scope.
If a conversation starts mixing bugs, design ideas, unrelated files, and old goals, Codex has more chances to make the wrong assumption.
Why it matters
Clear boundaries prevent context drift. They also make the final diff easier to review because every change should connect to the same task.
Common beginner mistake
Beginners often keep adding unrelated follow-ups to one thread until nobody can tell what the current task is.
Step-by-step
Start by naming the current task and workspace.
Tell Codex which previous context is relevant.
Explicitly exclude unrelated files or goals.
Ask Codex to restate the boundary before editing.
Try this
Before your next coding request, write one sentence that says what is in scope and one sentence that says what is out of scope.
Completion checklist
The task has one clear owner and working directory.
Unrelated files and previous goals are explicitly out of scope.