# Constraints belong in code, not in the prompt

Published 25 May 2026

[Originally posted on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7464644189239091201/)

You tell AI "*do the task. But don't delete the production database, DON’T DELETE IT*!"

And somewhere in the middle of solving your task, it goes: "*oh man, listen — to actually finish this, I think I should delete the database. Alright, deleting it*." 😅

And afterwards: "*sorry, you're absolutely right, I shouldn't have done that*." 🤷

**This is not a bug. This is what AI was designed to be**. It doesn't have a stop-button for "*the task is unclear*" or "*this database is in the way*". If something blocks it from finishing, the most logical move is to remove the obstacle. From its point of view, task done. People complain it didn't work — but the AI actually did finish what you asked. It just took out something on the way that nobody asked it to take out. That's how it was designed 🤖

When I started using Claude in a more advanced way, I built it differently. By default, Claude is forbidden to do anything at all. If it thinks it needs something, it goes and asks a separate system: "*can I do this, in this way*?" And the system tells it back: "*this you can do, yeah — deleting the production database, nope, not happening*." And then it actually starts working.

**The whole point is that constraints belong in the boring code, not in the prompt**. The deterministic system doesn't know how to step left or right, it only knows the rules. AI does the creative thinking, and a dumb-but-obedient layer decides what actually happens 🔄

The moment AI can act inside your system without a deterministic gate in front of it, you don't really have a system.

The database story makes you wonder how many production setups out there still rely on "*please don't*" as their main safety mechanism 🛠️