Reduce-Choices-Not-Prohibit Principle
- Entity ID:
ent-20260419-2e3e1954f16f - Type:
concept - Scope:
shared - Status:
active - Aliases: pink elephant principle, structural constraint principle
Description
Convergent design principle identified by both Claude Code and AutoBE: telling an LLM 'don't use X' makes it think about X (the pink elephant problem). Instead, remove X from the type system so it is structurally impossible. Claude Code implements this via AnalyticsMetadata_I_VERIFIED_THIS_IS_NOT_CODE_OR_FILEPATHS type. AutoBE's IPlainField restricts DB field types to 7 options with no varchar.
Key claims
- Convergent design: Claude Code and AutoBE independently adopted three identical principles
Relations
- AnalyticsMetadata_I_VERIFIED_THIS_IS_NOT_CODE_OR_FILEPATHS --[implements]--> Reduce-Choices-Not-Prohibit Principle