Build the closing checklist from the contract, not memory
Rung 4 of 10 · Recipe pattern
1 · Learn the move · Recipe pattern
A closing runs on a responsibility matrix: who delivers what, from which document, by when. The trap is building it from memory, a generic 'standard closing checklist' that invents deliverables the contract never required and drops the two that matter. The recipe pattern fixes the inputs and the output shape so the model can't wander: feed it only the PSA and the title commitment you paste, and make every row cite the section that requires the item. One rule carries the lesson: a checklist item with no source document is not an item, it's a guess, so it gets marked UNKNOWN and routed to the escrow holder, not asserted. You are assembling a coordination list for review, never authorizing the close or deciding who is legally obligated to deliver, that is the escrow agent's and counsel's call.
Build me a closing checklist for this deal from the PSA and title commitment. Who delivers what, and by when? [paste the PSA closing/deliverables sections and the commitment requirements]
2 · Your turn. You write the prompt
You're the buyer's transaction coordinator on a $6.4M industrial purchase closing in 30 days. You paste the PSA's closing sections (§9 seller's closing deliverables: deed, bill of sale, FIRPTA affidavit, assignment of leases; §10 buyer's deliverables: purchase price balance, closing statement approval) and the title commitment's Schedule B-I requirements (payoff of the existing mortgage, a recorded release, an owner's affidavit). You want a responsibility matrix your team can work, without the AI inventing a deliverable the contract doesn't require. Write that prompt.
Remember: the AI sees only your prompt, not this page. If the situation isn't in your prompt, it doesn't exist.
Optional. These shape the output when you run your prompt below, not your score.