Because it was built against a full screen. Generated apps almost always have one state — the happy one — so the first real visitor, who has nothing yet, sees a blank page and assumes it is broken. Ask for the other three states by name and you get them.
The prompt
For every screen, give me four states, not one: loading, empty (a new user with no data), error (the request failed), and full. For empty, show what the user should do next rather than an empty box.
| When to use it | Before you show the app to anyone. Empty is the state your first real user will see. |
|---|---|
| Why it is worded that way | A builder demonstrates against sample data because that is what makes a demo look good, so the states where something is missing simply do not get built. Naming all four turns an invisible omission into a checklist. The clause about empty screens matters most: an empty box reads as a fault, while 'add your first item' reads as an invitation. |
Empty is not an edge case, it is day one
Every user is a new user once. The screen with nothing on it is the first thing anybody sees, and it is the screen most likely to be missing entirely. Treat it as the main design, not the fallback.
Error states decide whether people blame you
'Something went wrong' with no next step reads as a broken product. 'We could not reach the server, try again' reads as a bad moment. Same failure, completely different impression.
Loading states stop double clicks
Without one, a slow save looks like nothing happened, so people press the button again. That is where duplicate records come from, and it is a design problem rather than a database one.
The Build Prompt Pack
This is one of 57 prompts, from the phase "Screens people can actually use". The pack has the rest, each with the same reasoning underneath, plus the research they are built on and a house-rules file you paste in once.
Tools this applies to
| Tool | What it does | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Lovable | Builds complete apps from a prompt. The most finished output of the group. | Free tier, then ~$25/mo |
| Bolt | Fast full-stack prototypes, entirely in the browser. | Free tier, Pro ~$25/mo |
| v0 | Strong on how individual screens look; now full apps too. | Free tier, then ~$20/mo |
| Replit | Building and hosting in one place, agent included. | Free tier, Core ~$20/mo |
| Base44 | The most guided, genuinely no-code experience of the group. | ~$20/mo |
Every tool has its own page with what it costs and who should skip it. Some links are affiliate links.
More prompts like this
The prompt that stops a builder making the wrong app
How do you describe an app to an AI builder so it builds what you actually wanted?
The prompt that tells you when your app fails
How do you find out that your app is broken before a customer tells you?
The prompt that stops a site looking generated
How do you make an AI-generated website not look AI-generated?