Give Codex a Clear Task and Make Your First Change

Describe what finished looks like

"Make this better" leaves Codex to invent the goal. A useful brief says what should change, which facts to trust, what to preserve and how you will check it. You can write that in ordinary language.

For the starter project, the headline and introduction are specified in SOURCE.md. Keeping those facts in a file makes the task easier to verify. The assistant should not infer an event host, sponsor or qualification because those details would make the page sound more complete.

Update the workshop page using SOURCE.md.

Goal: replace the h1 with "AI at Work: A Practical Starter Session" and the introduction with "Practise clear instructions and checking AI drafts in a friendly online workshop."
Keep the existing date, time, link, more-details button and learning-exercise notice.
Make only the necessary content change. Do not install packages, add services or publish anything.

Check that the requested wording appears once and that the page still opens. Report which file changed and which checks you actually performed.

Check the result against the brief

Expected content: the two new strings appear in index.html. The workshop remains online on 12 November 2026, from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC. The original navigation link and button are still present. No new service or event fact is needed.

Open the changed page and compare it with SOURCE.md. Ask Codex to show the changed lines or a before-and-after comparison. A message saying "done" is a starting point for your review, not the review itself.

You may see more than one file change in a real task. The question is whether each change serves the brief. If Codex changed the stylesheet during this text-only exercise, ask why. Accept a reasoned necessary change only after understanding it; do not assume a larger change is better.

Give feedback that points to the mismatch

Say what you observed and what should happen. For example: "The title is correct, but the introductory sentence differs from SOURCE.md. Use its exact final wording and keep the rest of the page as it is."

That feedback is more useful than starting over with another broad request. Keep the task bounded until its checks pass, then move to the next change.