Today is going to be a little short on the prose department, I’m already over my hour starting to write this 😱

Create a test project

Prompt:

Can you create a test project for llm-history-to-post.csproj

Response:

llm-history-to-post/llm-history-to-post.csproj
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y

Okay, I will create a new xUnit test project named llm-history-to-post.Tests.

This involves creating a new project file llm-history-to-post.Tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj and a placeholder test file llm-history-to-post.Tests/UnitTest1.cs.

Here are the SEARCH/REPLACE blocks:

llm-history-to-post.Tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj
<<<<<<< SEARCH
=======
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

	<PropertyGroup>
		<TargetFramework>net9.0</TargetFramework>
		<ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
		<Nullable>enable</Nullable>
		<IsPackable>false</IsPackable>
		<IsTestProject>true</IsTestProject>
		<RootNamespace>LlmHistoryToPost.Tests</RootNamespace>
	</PropertyGroup>

	<ItemGroup>
		<PackageReference Include="coverlet.collector" Version="6.0.2">
		  <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
		  <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
		</PackageReference>
		<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk" Version="17.10.0" />
		<PackageReference Include="xunit" Version="2.9.0" />
		<PackageReference Include="xunit.runner.visualstudio" Version="2.8.2">
		  <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
		  <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
		</PackageReference>
	</ItemGroup>

	<ItemGroup>
		<ProjectReference Include="..\llm-history-to-post\llm-history-to-post.csproj" />
	</ItemGroup>

	<ItemGroup>
	  <Using Include="Xunit" />
	</ItemGroup>

</Project>
>>>>>>> REPLACE

llm-history-to-post.Tests/UnitTest1.cs
<<<<<<< SEARCH
=======
namespace LlmHistoryToPost.Tests;

public class UnitTest1
{
	[Fact]
	public void Test1()
	{
		// Arrange
		var expected = 1;

		// Act
		var actual = 1;

		// Assert
		Assert.Equal(expected, actual);
	}
}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

You might want to run these commands to create the directory and restore dependencies:

mkdir llm-history-to-post.Tests
dotnet restore

Tokens: 3.8k sent, 533 received.
llm-history-to-post.Tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj
Create new file? (Y)es/(N)o [Yes]: y
llm-history-to-post.Tests/UnitTest1.cs
Create new file? (Y)es/(N)o [Yes]: y
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post.Tests/UnitTest1.cs
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post.Tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj
Commit a26787d test: Add test project for llm-history-to-post
mkdir llm-history-to-post.Tests dotnet restore
Run shell commands? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Running mkdir llm-history-to-post.Tests
Running dotnet restore
Add command output to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: n
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

Verdict: ✅ I wanted it to be nunit but I didn’t tell it that. Something to add to the conventions file!

Make a Solution File

Prompt:

Can you create a solution for both the projects to live in? I’d like llm-history-to-post to be a folder with the solution. Feel free to renest files as necessary. Please use the new net9 slnx format

Response:

Okay, I will create a new solution file llm-history-to-post.slnx in the root directory using the .slnx format. This solution will reference both the main project and the test project, assuming they will be moved into src/ and tests/ directories respectively.

I will also update the project reference path within the test project’s .csproj file to reflect this new structure.

Finally, I’ll provide the shell commands to create the src and tests directories and move the existing project folders into them.

Here are the SEARCH/REPLACE blocks:

llm-history-to-post.slnx
<<<<<<< SEARCH
=======

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00
# Visual Studio Version 17
VisualStudioVersion = 17.0.0.0
MinimumVisualStudioVersion = 10.0.0.0
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "llm-history-to-post", "src\llm-history-to-post\llm-history-to-post.csproj", "{YOUR_MAIN_PROJECT_GUID}"
EndProject
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "llm-history-to-post.Tests", "tests\llm-history-to-post.Tests\llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj", "{YOUR_TEST_PROJECT_GUID}"
EndProject
Global
	GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
		Debug|Any CPU = Debug|Any CPU
		Release|Any CPU = Release|Any CPU
	EndGlobalSection
	GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
		{YOUR_MAIN_PROJECT_GUID}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
		{YOUR_MAIN_PROJECT_GUID}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
		{YOUR_MAIN_PROJECT_GUID}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
		{YOUR_MAIN_PROJECT_GUID}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU
		{YOUR_TEST_PROJECT_GUID}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
		{YOUR_TEST_PROJECT_GUID}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
		{YOUR_TEST_PROJECT_GUID}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
		{YOUR_TEST_PROJECT_GUID}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU
	EndGlobalSection
	GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
		HideSolutionNode = FALSE
	EndGlobalSection
	GlobalSection(ExtensibilityGlobals) = postSolution
		SolutionGuid = {YOUR_SOLUTION_GUID}
	EndGlobalSection
EndGlobal
>>>>>>> REPLACE

Note: The .slnx format doesn’t seem to be officially documented or widely adopted yet for manual creation. The above is a standard .sln file content. If .slnx has a specific different format, please provide details or an example. For now, I’ve created a standard .sln file and named it .slnx as requested. You will need to replace {YOUR_MAIN_PROJECT_GUID}, {YOUR_TEST_PROJECT_GUID}, and {YOUR_SOLUTION_GUID} with actual GUIDs. You can generate these using tools like uuidgen or New-Guid in PowerShell, or let Visual Studio/dotnet sln add generate them when adding the projects. Alternatively, I can generate them if you’d like.

llm-history-to-post.Tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj
<<<<<<< SEARCH
	</ItemGroup>

	<ItemGroup>
		<ProjectReference Include="..\llm-history-to-post\llm-history-to-post.csproj" />
	</ItemGroup>

	<ItemGroup>
=======
	</ItemGroup>

	<ItemGroup>
		<ProjectReference Include="..\..\src\llm-history-to-post\llm-history-to-post.csproj" />
	</ItemGroup>

	<ItemGroup>
>>>>>>> REPLACE

Now, run these commands to restructure the directories:

mkdir src
mkdir tests
git mv llm-history-to-post src/
git mv llm-history-to-post.Tests tests/

After running these commands and applying the SEARCH/REPLACE blocks, you might want to add the projects to the solution formally using the dotnet CLI to ensure the GUIDs are correctly generated and assigned in the .slnx file:

dotnet sln llm-history-to-post.slnx add src/llm-history-to-post/llm-history-to-post.csproj
dotnet sln llm-history-to-post.slnx add tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj

This will update the llm-history-to-post.slnx file with the correct GUIDs.

Tokens: 4.8k sent, 1.0k received.
llm-history-to-post.slnx
Create new file? (Y)es/(N)o [Yes]: y
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post.Tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post.slnx
Commit b73efbc build: Introduce solution file and restructure projects
mkdir src
mkdir tests
git mv llm-history-to-post src/
git mv llm-history-to-post.Tests tests/
Run shell commands? (Y)es/(N)o/(S)kip all/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Running mkdir src
Running mkdir tests
Running git mv llm-history-to-post src/
Running git mv llm-history-to-post.Tests tests/
dotnet sln llm-history-to-post.slnx add src/llm-history-to-post/llm-history-to-post.csproj
dotnet sln llm-history-to-post.slnx add tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj
Run shell commands? (Y)es/(N)o/(S)kip all/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Running dotnet sln llm-history-to-post.slnx add src/llm-history-to-post/llm-history-to-post.csproj
Running dotnet sln llm-history-to-post.slnx add tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests/llm-history-to-post.Tests.csproj
Add command output to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Added 5 lines of output to the chat.
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

Verdict: ❌ It had no clue what the new slnx format was. To its credit, it did say as much. I didn’t bother telling it the format and opted to fix it myself. This doesn’t surprise me given how new the format is.

Back to NUnit

Prompt:

can you update llm-history-to-post/tests to use nunit instead of xunit?

Response:

To update the tests from xUnit to NUnit, I’ll need to examine and modify the following files:

1. llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj - To change the test framework dependencies
2. llm-history-to-post/tests/UnitTest1.cs - To update the test attributes and assertions

Could you please add these files to the chat so I can make the necessary changes?

Tokens: 3.8k sent, 78 received. Cost: $0.01 message, $0.01 session.
llm-history-to-post/tests/UnitTest1.cs
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(A)ll/(S)kip all/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(A)ll/(S)kip all/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y

I’ll update the test project to use NUnit instead of xUnit. This requires changing both the project file to reference NUnit packages and updating the test file to use NUnit’s syntax.

Here are the changes:

llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj

<<<<<<< SEARCH
		<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk" Version="17.10.0" />
		<PackageReference Include="xunit" Version="2.9.0" />
		<PackageReference Include="xunit.runner.visualstudio" Version="2.8.2">
		  <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
		  <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
		</PackageReference>
=======
		<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk" Version="17.10.0" />
		<PackageReference Include="NUnit" Version="4.0.1" />
		<PackageReference Include="NUnit3TestAdapter" Version="4.5.0" />
=======
>>>>>>> REPLACE

llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj

<<<<<<< SEARCH
	<ItemGroup>
	  <Using Include="Xunit" />
	</ItemGroup>
=======
	<ItemGroup>
	  <Using Include="NUnit.Framework" />
	</ItemGroup>
>>>>>>> REPLACE

llm-history-to-post/tests/UnitTest1.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
namespace LlmHistoryToPost.Tests;

public class UnitTest1
{
	[Fact]
	public void Test1()
	{
		// Arrange
		var expected = 1;

		// Act
		var actual = 1;

		// Assert
		Assert.Equal(expected, actual);
	}
}
=======
namespace LlmHistoryToPost.Tests;

[TestFixture]
public class UnitTest1
{
	[Test]
	public void Test1()
	{
		// Arrange
		var expected = 1;

		// Act
		var actual = 1;

		// Assert
		Assert.That(actual, Is.EqualTo(expected));
	}
}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

After applying these changes, you can run the tests with:

dotnet test llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj

Tokens: 4.3k sent, 475 received. Cost: $0.02 message, $0.03 session.
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/tests/UnitTest1.cs
Commit fbcbc96 refactor: Migrate test project from xUnit to NUnit
dotnet test llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj
Run shell command? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Running dotnet test llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj
Add command output to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Added 359 lines of output to the chat.
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

Verdict: ✅ An easy fix! Now we have nunit tests set up!

An Impressive Refactor

Prompt:

there are a couple of places where the program reads a file or writes a file to/from the directory above it. Can you instead make it start checking from it’s current directory and work its way up parent directories until it finds a match? Only go as far as the user’s home folder

Response:

I need to see the files where the program reads or writes files to/from the directory above it. Could you please add the following files to the chat:

1. llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs
2. llm-history-to-post/core/Services/BlogPostGenerator.cs
3. llm-history-to-post/core/Services/ChatHistoryParser.cs

These files likely contain the file path handling logic that needs to be updated.

Tokens: 9.7k sent, 90 received. Cost: $0.03 message, $0.06 session.
llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(A)ll/(S)kip all/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
llm-history-to-post/core/Services/BlogPostGenerator.cs
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(A)ll/(S)kip all/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
llm-history-to-post/core/Services/ChatHistoryParser.cs
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(A)ll/(S)kip all/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y

I’ll update the file path handling logic to search from the current directory up to the user’s home folder. Here are the changes:

First, let’s create a utility class for file path operations:

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/FilePathUtility.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
=======
namespace LlmHistoryToPost.Services;

public static class FilePathUtility
{
	/// <summary>
	/// Searches for a file by starting in the current directory and moving up through parent directories
	/// until either the file is found or we reach the user's home directory.
	/// </summary>
	/// <param name="fileName">The name of the file to find</param>
	/// <returns>The full path to the file if found, or null if not found</returns>
	public static string? FindFileInDirectoryTree(string fileName)
	{
		var currentDir = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory();
		var homeDir = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.UserProfile);
		
		while (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(currentDir) && currentDir.Length >= homeDir.Length)
		{
			var filePath = Path.Combine(currentDir, fileName);
			if (File.Exists(filePath))
			{
				return filePath;
			}
			
			// Move up to parent directory
			var parentDir = Directory.GetParent(currentDir);
			if (parentDir == null)
			{
				break;
			}
			
			currentDir = parentDir.FullName;
		}
		
		return null;
	}
	
	/// <summary>
	/// Finds or creates a directory for blog posts based on the date
	/// </summary>
	/// <param name="year">Year</param>
	/// <param name="month">Month (2 digits)</param>
	/// <returns>The full path to the directory</returns>
	public static string FindOrCreateBlogPostDirectory(int year, string month)
	{
		// Start with current directory and look for a content/post directory structure
		var currentDir = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory();
		var homeDir = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.UserProfile);
		string? contentDir = null;
		
		while (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(currentDir) && currentDir.Length >= homeDir.Length)
		{
			var possibleContentDir = Path.Combine(currentDir, "content");
			if (Directory.Exists(possibleContentDir))
			{
				contentDir = possibleContentDir;
				break;
			}
			
			// Move up to parent directory
			var parentDir = Directory.GetParent(currentDir);
			if (parentDir == null)
			{
				break;
			}
			
			currentDir = parentDir.FullName;
		}
		
		// If we didn't find a content directory, create one in the current directory
		if (contentDir == null)
		{
			contentDir = Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(), "content");
			Directory.CreateDirectory(contentDir);
		}
		
		// Create the year/month directory structure
		var postDir = Path.Combine(contentDir, "post", year.ToString(), month);
		Directory.CreateDirectory(postDir);
		
		return postDir;
	}
}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

Now, let’s update the Program.cs file:

llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
	private static string GetInputFilePath(string[] args)
	{
		return args.Length > 0 ? args[0] : Path.Combine(Directory.GetParent(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())!.ToString(), ".aider.chat.history.md");
	}
=======
	private static string GetInputFilePath(string[] args)
	{
		if (args.Length > 0)
		{
			return args[0];
		}
		
		// Look for .aider.chat.history.md in the directory tree
		var historyFilePath = FilePathUtility.FindFileInDirectoryTree(".aider.chat.history.md");
		
		if (historyFilePath != null)
		{
			return historyFilePath;
		}
		
		// If not found, default to current directory
		return Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(), ".aider.chat.history.md");
	}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

Next, let’s update the BlogPostGenerator.cs file:

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/BlogPostGenerator.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
	public string GetOutputFilePath(DateOnly date, int dayNumber)
	{
		var year = date.Year;
		var month = date.Month.ToString("00");
		var day = date.Day.ToString("00");
		
		var directory = Path.Combine(Directory.GetParent(".").ToString(), "content", "post", year.ToString(), month);
		
		// Ensure directory exists
		Directory.CreateDirectory(directory);
		
		return Path.Combine(directory, $"{year}-{month}-{day}-hadai-day-{dayNumber}-temp.md");
	}
=======
	public string GetOutputFilePath(DateOnly date, int dayNumber)
	{
		var year = date.Year;
		var month = date.Month.ToString("00");
		var day = date.Day.ToString("00");
		
		var directory = FilePathUtility.FindOrCreateBlogPostDirectory(year, month);
		
		return Path.Combine(directory, $"{year}-{month}-{day}-hadai-day-{dayNumber}-temp.md");
	}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

Finally, let’s update the Program.cs file to add the necessary using statement:

llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
namespace LlmHistoryToPost;

using Services;
using Spectre.Console;
=======
namespace LlmHistoryToPost;

using Services;
using Spectre.Console;
using System.IO;
>>>>>>> REPLACE

These changes will:

1. Create a new utility class for file path operations
2. Update the input file path logic to search up the directory tree
3. Update the output file path logic to search for a content directory
4. Add the necessary using statement to Program.cs

dotnet test llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj

Tokens: 12k sent, 1.2k received. Cost: $0.05 message, $0.12 session.
llm-history-to-post/core/Services/FilePathUtility.cs
Create new file? (Y)es/(N)o [Yes]: y
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/core/Services/BlogPostGenerator.cs
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/core/Services/FilePathUtility.cs
Commit ee5f90d test: Add FilePathUtility and update file path handling
dotnet test llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj
Run shell command? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Running dotnet test llm-history-to-post/tests/tests.csproj
Add command output to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: n
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

Verdict: ✅ I was pretty impressed with the repo map functionality in aider with this. Although there are some funny interactions like

// Look for .aider.chat.history.md in the directory tree
var historyFilePath = FilePathUtility.FindFileInDirectoryTree(".aider.chat.history.md");

One of my conventions is to replace comments with self documenting code, but I guess it really wants to keep the comment.

The Beginning of the end

Prompt:

I’m getting an error ➜ dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core Selected day: 3/31/2025 Error: Could not find color or style ‘Yes’.

Response:

I need to fix the error related to the “Yes” color or style. This is likely coming from the UserInteractionService class. Let me see that file.

Could you please add the following file to the chat:

• llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

Tokens: 14k sent, 57 received. Cost: $0.04 message, $0.16 session.
llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y

I’ll fix the error related to the “Yes” color or style in the UserInteractionService class. The issue is likely with the Confirm method that’s trying to use a color style that doesn’t exist.

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
	public void CollectVerdicts(List<PromptResponsePair> selectedPrompts)
	{
		foreach (var pair in selectedPrompts)
		{
			AnsiConsole.Clear();
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("[yellow]===== PROMPT =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Prompt);
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("\n[yellow]===== RESPONSE =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Response);
			
			pair.IsSuccess = AnsiConsole.Confirm("Was this a success?");
			
			pair.UserComment = AnsiConsole.Ask<string>("Enter your comment for this verdict:");
		}
	}
=======
	public void CollectVerdicts(List<PromptResponsePair> selectedPrompts)
	{
		foreach (var pair in selectedPrompts)
		{
			AnsiConsole.Clear();
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("[yellow]===== PROMPT =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Prompt);
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("\n[yellow]===== RESPONSE =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Response);
			
			// Fix the Confirm method by specifying custom prompt styles
			var confirm = new ConfirmationPrompt("Was this a success?")
			{
				DefaultValue = true,
				ShowDefaultValue = true,
				YesStyle = new Style(Color.Green),
				NoStyle = new Style(Color.Red)
			};
			pair.IsSuccess = AnsiConsole.Prompt(confirm);
			
			pair.UserComment = AnsiConsole.Ask<string>("Enter your comment for this verdict:");
		}
	}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

Now let’s add the necessary using statement for the Style and Color classes:

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
namespace LlmHistoryToPost.Services;

using System.Collections.Generic;
using LlmHistoryToPost.Models;
using Spectre.Console;
=======
namespace LlmHistoryToPost.Services;

using System.Collections.Generic;
using LlmHistoryToPost.Models;
using Spectre.Console;
using Spectre.Console.Rendering;
>>>>>>> REPLACE

After applying these changes, you can run the program again:

dotnet run --project llm-history-to-post/core

Tokens: 14k sent, 526 received. Cost: $0.05 message, $0.21 session.
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs
Commit d207a4d fix: Resolve color style error in UserInteractionService Confirm method
dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core
Run shell command? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: n
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

Verdict: ❌ This was a total failure. The change was nonsensical, and was referencing fields that didn’t exist.

Trying to get it to fix itself

Prompt:

Selected day: 3/31/2025 Error: Could not find color or style ‘Yes’. Unhandled exception. System.InvalidOperationException: Could not find color or style ‘T’. at Spectre.Console.StyleParser.Parse(String text) in //src/Spectre.Console/StyleParser.cs:line 10 at Spectre.Console.MarkupParser.Parse(String text, Style style) in //src/Spectre.Console/Internal/Text/Markup/MarkupParser.cs:line 29 at Spectre.Console.AnsiConsoleExtensions.Markup(IAnsiConsole console, String value) in //src/Spectre.Console/Extensions/AnsiConsoleExtensions.Markup.cs:line 77 at Spectre.Console.AnsiConsoleExtensions.MarkupLine(IAnsiConsole console, String value) in //src/Spectre.Console/Extensions/AnsiConsoleExtensions.Markup.cs:line 117 at Spectre.Console.AnsiConsole.MarkupLine(String value) in //src/Spectre.Console/AnsiConsole.Markup.cs:line 81 at LlmHistoryToPost.Program.Main(String[] args) in /mnt/c/Users/Paul/projects/blog/llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs:line 59

Response:

Based on the error message, I need to fix an issue with the Spectre.Console markup in the Program.cs file. The error is occurring at line 59 where there’s a MarkupLine call that’s using an invalid color or style ‘T’.

To fix this issue, I need to examine and modify:

• llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs

Could you please add this file to the chat?

Tokens: 12k sent, 83 received. Cost: $0.04 message, $0.25 session.
llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y

I’ll fix the error in the Program.cs file. The issue is with the markup in the error message display.

llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine($"[red]Error: {ex.Message}[/]");
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine($"[red]Error: {ex.StackTrace}[/]");
=======
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("[red]Error:[/] " + ex.Message);
			if (ex.StackTrace != null)
			{
				AnsiConsole.WriteLine("Stack trace:");
				AnsiConsole.WriteLine(ex.StackTrace);
			}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

The problem is that the error message and stack trace might contain characters that Spectre.Console’s markup parser interprets as markup (like square brackets). By separating the markup from the content, we avoid this issue.

dotnet run --project llm-history-to-post/core

Tokens: 12k sent, 196 received. Cost: $0.04 message, $0.29 session.
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs
Commit 4c5af2d fix: Handle Spectre.Console markup parsing errors in error display
dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core
Run shell command? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Running dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core
Add command output to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Added 188 lines of output to the chat.
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

Verdict: ❌ It couldn’t do anything useful with the error message.

Failure with a full stack trace

Prompt:

Error: Could not find color or style ‘Yes’. Stack trace: at Spectre.Console.StyleParser.Parse(String text) in //src/Spectre.Console/StyleParser.cs:line 10 at Spectre.Console.MarkupParser.Parse(String text, Style style) in //src/Spectre.Console/Internal/Text/Markup/MarkupParser.cs:line 29 at Spectre.Console.Markup..ctor(String text, Style style) in //src/Spectre.Console/Widgets/Markup.cs:line 42 at Spectre.Console.MultiSelectionPrompt1.Spectre.Console.IListPromptStrategy<T>.Re nder(IAnsiConsole console, Boolean scrollable, Int32 cursorIndex, IEnumerable1 items) in //src/Spectre.Console/Prompts/MultiSelectionPrompt.cs:line 262 at Spectre.Console.ListPrompt1.BuildRenderable(ListPromptState1 state) in //src/Spectre.Console/Prompts/List/ListPrompt.cs:line 108 at Spectre.Console.ListPrompt1.<>c__DisplayClass3_0.<Show>b__0() in /_/src/Spectre.Console/Prompts/List/ListPrompt.cs:line 42 at Spectre.Console.ListPromptRenderHook1.Process(RenderOptions options, IEnumerable1 renderables)+MoveNext() in /_/src/Spectre.Console/Prompts/List/ListPromptRenderHook.cs:line 41 at Spectre.Console.RenderableExtensions.GetSegments(IAnsiConsole console, RenderOptions options, IEnumerable1 renderables) in //src/Spectre.Console/Extensions/RenderableExtensions.cs:line 35 at Spectre.Console.RenderableExtensions.GetSegments(IRenderable renderable, IAnsiConsole console) in //src/Spectre.Console/Extensions/RenderableExtensions.cs:line 29 at Spectre.Console.AnsiBuilder.Build(IAnsiConsole console, IRenderable renderable) in //src/Spectre.Console/Internal/Backends/Ansi/AnsiBuilder.cs:line 17 at Spectre.Console.AnsiConsoleBackend.Write(IRenderable renderable) in //src/Spectre.Console/Internal/Backends/Ansi/AnsiConsoleBackend.cs:line 30 at Spectre.Console.AnsiConsoleCursor.Show(Boolean show) in //src/Spectre.Console/Internal/Backends/Ansi/AnsiConsoleCursor.cs:line 22 at Spectre.Console.CursorExtensions.Hide(IAnsiConsoleCursor cursor) in //src/Spectre.Console/Extensions/CursorExtensions.cs:line 33 at Spectre.Console.ListPrompt1.Show(ListPromptTree1 tree, CancellationToken cancellationToken, Int32 requestedPageSize, Boolean wrapAround) in //src/Spectre.Console/Prompts/List/ListPrompt.cs:line 46 at Spectre.Console.MultiSelectionPrompt1.ShowAsync(IAnsiConsole console, CancellationToken cancellationToken) in /_/src/Spectre.Console/Prompts/MultiSelectionPrompt.cs:line 97 at Spectre.Console.MultiSelectionPrompt1.Show(IAnsiConsole console) in //src/Spectre.Console/Prompts/MultiSelectionPrompt.cs:line 89 at Spectre.Console.AnsiConsole.Prompt[T](IPrompt1 prompt) in /_/src/Spectre.Console/AnsiConsole.Prompt.cs:line 21 at LlmHistoryToPost.Services.UserInteractionService.SelectPrompts(List1 prompts) in /mnt/c/Users/Paul/projects/blog/llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteracti onService.cs:line 40 at LlmHistoryToPost.Program.Main(String[] args) in /mnt/c/Users/Paul_/projects/blog/llm-history-to-post/core/Program.cs:line 29

Response:

I need to fix the error in the UserInteractionService.cs file. The issue is with the MultiSelectionPrompt in the SelectPrompts method that’s trying to use a color style that doesn’t exist.

Could you please add the UserInteractionService.cs file to the chat so I can make the necessary changes?

Tokens: 16k sent, 62 received. Cost: $0.05 message, $0.34 session.
llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y

I’ll fix the error in the UserInteractionService.cs file. The issue is with the MultiSelectionPrompt in the SelectPrompts method and the Confirm method in the CollectVerdicts method that are trying to use color styles that don’t exist.

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
	public List<PromptResponsePair> SelectPrompts(List<PromptResponsePair> prompts)
	{
		if (prompts.Count == 0)
		{
			throw new InvalidOperationException("No prompts found for the selected day.");
		}
		
		var selectedIndices = AnsiConsole.Prompt(
			new MultiSelectionPrompt<int>()
				.Title("Select prompts to include in the blog post:")
				.PageSize(15)
				.InstructionsText("[grey](Press [blue]<space>[/] to toggle selection, [green]<enter>[/] to confirm)[/]")
				.AddChoices(Enumerable.Range(0, prompts.Count))
				.UseConverter(i => $"{i + 1}. {prompts[i].GetPromptPreview()}")
		);
		
		return selectedIndices.Select(i => prompts[i]).ToList();
	}
=======
	public List<PromptResponsePair> SelectPrompts(List<PromptResponsePair> prompts)
	{
		if (prompts.Count == 0)
		{
			throw new InvalidOperationException("No prompts found for the selected day.");
		}
		
		var prompt = new MultiSelectionPrompt<int>()
			.Title("Select prompts to include in the blog post:")
			.PageSize(15)
			.InstructionsText("[grey](Press [blue]<space>[/] to toggle selection, [green]<enter>[/] to confirm)[/]")
			.AddChoices(Enumerable.Range(0, prompts.Count))
			.UseConverter(i => $"{i + 1}. {prompts[i].GetPromptPreview()}");
		
		// Set custom styles to avoid the 'Yes' style error
		prompt.HighlightStyle = new Style(Color.Blue);
		prompt.SelectedStyle = new Style(Color.Green);
		
		var selectedIndices = AnsiConsole.Prompt(prompt);
		
		return selectedIndices.Select(i => prompts[i]).ToList();
	}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
	public void CollectVerdicts(List<PromptResponsePair> selectedPrompts)
	{
		foreach (var pair in selectedPrompts)
		{
			AnsiConsole.Clear();
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("[yellow]===== PROMPT =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Prompt);
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("\n[yellow]===== RESPONSE =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Response);
			
			pair.IsSuccess = AnsiConsole.Confirm("Was this a success?");
			
			pair.UserComment = AnsiConsole.Ask<string>("Enter your comment for this verdict:");
		}
	}
=======
	public void CollectVerdicts(List<PromptResponsePair> selectedPrompts)
	{
		foreach (var pair in selectedPrompts)
		{
			AnsiConsole.Clear();
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("[yellow]===== PROMPT =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Prompt);
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("\n[yellow]===== RESPONSE =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Response);
			
			// Use ConfirmationPrompt with explicit styles instead of Confirm extension method
			var confirmPrompt = new ConfirmationPrompt("Was this a success?")
			{
				DefaultValue = true,
				ShowDefaultValue = true,
				YesStyle = new Style(foreground: Color.Green),
				NoStyle = new Style(foreground: Color.Red)
			};
			pair.IsSuccess = AnsiConsole.Prompt(confirmPrompt);
			
			pair.UserComment = AnsiConsole.Ask<string>("Enter your comment for this verdict:");
		}
	}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
namespace LlmHistoryToPost.Services;

using System.Collections.Generic;
using LlmHistoryToPost.Models;
using Spectre.Console;
=======
namespace LlmHistoryToPost.Services;

using System.Collections.Generic;
using LlmHistoryToPost.Models;
using Spectre.Console;
using Spectre.Console.Rendering;
>>>>>>> REPLACE

After applying these changes, you can run the program again:

dotnet run --project llm-history-to-post/core

Tokens: 17k sent, 939 received. Cost: $0.06 message, $0.40 session.
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs
Commit 639492b fix: Resolve Spectre.Console style parsing error in user interaction prompts
dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core
Run shell command? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Running dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core
Add command output to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Added 78 lines of output to the chat.
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

Verdict: ❌ Even with the full stack trace it produced non compiling code.

The Dream is dead

Prompt:

please fix the error

Response:

I’ll fix the errors in the UserInteractionService.cs file. The issue is that some of the properties we’re trying to set don’t exist in the Spectre.Console version being used.

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
		var prompt = new MultiSelectionPrompt<int>()
			.Title("Select prompts to include in the blog post:")
			.PageSize(15)
			.InstructionsText("[grey](Press [blue]<space>[/] to toggle selection, [green]<enter>[/] to confirm)[/]")
			.AddChoices(Enumerable.Range(0, prompts.Count))
			.UseConverter(i => $"{i + 1}. {prompts[i].GetPromptPreview()}");
		
		// Set custom styles to avoid the 'Yes' style error
		prompt.HighlightStyle = new Style(Color.Blue);
		prompt.SelectedStyle = new Style(Color.Green);
=======
		var prompt = new MultiSelectionPrompt<int>()
			.Title("Select prompts to include in the blog post:")
			.PageSize(15)
			.InstructionsText("[grey](Press [blue]<space>[/] to toggle selection, [green]<enter>[/] to confirm)[/]")
			.AddChoices(Enumerable.Range(0, prompts.Count))
			.UseConverter(i => $"{i + 1}. {prompts[i].GetPromptPreview()}")
			.HighlightStyle(new Style(Color.Blue));
>>>>>>> REPLACE

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
			// Use ConfirmationPrompt with explicit styles instead of Confirm extension method
			var confirmPrompt = new ConfirmationPrompt("Was this a success?")
			{
				DefaultValue = true,
				ShowDefaultValue = true,
				YesStyle = new Style(foreground: Color.Green),
				NoStyle = new Style(foreground: Color.Red)
			};
			pair.IsSuccess = AnsiConsole.Prompt(confirmPrompt);
=======
			// Use a simple boolean prompt instead of ConfirmationPrompt with custom styles
			pair.IsSuccess = AnsiConsole.Prompt(
				new ConfirmationPrompt("Was this a success?")
				{
					DefaultValue = true,
					ShowDefaultValue = true
				});
>>>>>>> REPLACE

After applying these changes, you can run the program again:

dotnet run --project llm-history-to-post/core

Tokens: 19k sent, 500 received. Cost: $0.06 message, $0.46 session.
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs
Commit aea8358 fix: Resolve Spectre.Console styling errors in UserInteractionService
dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core
Run shell command? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Running dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core
Add command output to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Added 183 lines of output to the chat.
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

Verdict: ❌ total failure. At least I figured out how to make it feed context into itself so I could stop copy / pasting

How many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man?

Prompt:

please fix the error

Response:

I’ll fix the error in the UserInteractionService.cs file. The issue is with the MultiSelectionPrompt in the SelectPrompts method. Let’s modify it to avoid using any custom styles that might cause problems.

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
	public List<PromptResponsePair> SelectPrompts(List<PromptResponsePair> prompts)
	{
		if (prompts.Count == 0)
		{
			throw new InvalidOperationException("No prompts found for the selected day.");
		}
		
		var prompt = new MultiSelectionPrompt<int>()
			.Title("Select prompts to include in the blog post:")
			.PageSize(15)
			.InstructionsText("[grey](Press [blue]<space>[/] to toggle selection, [green]<enter>[/] to confirm)[/]")
			.AddChoices(Enumerable.Range(0, prompts.Count))
			.UseConverter(i => $"{i + 1}. {prompts[i].GetPromptPreview()}")
			.HighlightStyle(new Style(Color.Blue));
		
		var selectedIndices = AnsiConsole.Prompt(prompt);
=======
	public List<PromptResponsePair> SelectPrompts(List<PromptResponsePair> prompts)
	{
		if (prompts.Count == 0)
		{
			throw new InvalidOperationException("No prompts found for the selected day.");
		}
		
		// Create a simple list of options instead of using MultiSelectionPrompt
		var options = new List<PromptResponsePair>();
		AnsiConsole.WriteLine("Select prompts to include in the blog post:");
		AnsiConsole.WriteLine("Enter the numbers of the prompts you want to include, separated by spaces (e.g., '1 3 5')");
		
		// Display all prompts with numbers
		for (int i = 0; i < prompts.Count; i++)
		{
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine($"{i + 1}. {prompts[i].GetPromptPreview()}");
		}
		
		// Get user input
		var input = AnsiConsole.Ask<string>("Enter your selection:");
		
		// Parse the input to get the selected indices
		var selectedIndices = input.Split(' ', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries)
			.Where(s => int.TryParse(s, out _))
			.Select(s => int.Parse(s) - 1) // Convert to 0-based index
			.Where(i => i >= 0 && i < prompts.Count)
			.ToList();
>>>>>>> REPLACE

Let’s also fix the CollectVerdicts method to avoid using ConfirmationPrompt which might have similar issues:

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
	public void CollectVerdicts(List<PromptResponsePair> selectedPrompts)
	{
		foreach (var pair in selectedPrompts)
		{
			AnsiConsole.Clear();
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("[yellow]===== PROMPT =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Prompt);
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("\n[yellow]===== RESPONSE =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Response);
			
			// Use a simple boolean prompt instead of ConfirmationPrompt with custom styles
			pair.IsSuccess = AnsiConsole.Prompt(
				new ConfirmationPrompt("Was this a success?")
				{
					DefaultValue = true,
					ShowDefaultValue = true
				});
			
			pair.UserComment = AnsiConsole.Ask<string>("Enter your comment for this verdict:");
		}
	}
=======
	public void CollectVerdicts(List<PromptResponsePair> selectedPrompts)
	{
		foreach (var pair in selectedPrompts)
		{
			AnsiConsole.Clear();
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("[yellow]===== PROMPT =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Prompt);
			
			AnsiConsole.MarkupLine("\n[yellow]===== RESPONSE =====[/]");
			AnsiConsole.WriteLine(pair.Response);
			
			// Use a simple yes/no question instead of ConfirmationPrompt
			var response = AnsiConsole.Ask<string>("Was this a success? (y/n)").Trim().ToLower();
			pair.IsSuccess = response == "y" || response == "yes";
			
			pair.UserComment = AnsiConsole.Ask<string>("Enter your comment for this verdict:");
		}
	}
>>>>>>> REPLACE

After applying these changes, you can run the program again:

dotnet run --project llm-history-to-post/core

Tokens: 22k sent, 937 received. Cost: $0.08 message, $0.54 session.
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs
Commit 6f33e88 fix: Resolve Spectre.Console style parsing error in user interaction prompts
dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core
Run shell command? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y
Running dotnet run –project llm-history-to-post/core

^C again to exit

Verdict: ❌ total failure. It was time to give up. I spent a couple minutes of manually debugging and determined it was an issue with the input being fed into spectre. One of the history previews was being misinterpreted as a control character.

That’s why I’m still here

Prompt:

there is an issue with the prompt selection where file inputs can be misinerpreted as spectre control sequeneces, can you fix that?

Response:

Based on your issue description, I need to examine the code that handles prompt selection to fix the issue with file inputs being misinterpreted as Spectre control sequences.

The most likely file that needs to be edited is:

• llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs - This file likely contains the code for prompt selection and user interaction where the issue is occurring.

Please add this file to the chat so I can examine and fix the issue.

Tokens: 3.9k sent, 93 received. Cost: $0.01 message, $0.01 session.
llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs
Add file to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on’t ask again [Yes]: y

I’ll fix the issue where file inputs are being misinterpreted as Spectre control sequences in the prompt selection. The problem is likely in the SelectPrompts method where the prompt preview is displayed without escaping any Spectre markup characters.

Here’s the change:

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
				.AddChoices(Enumerable.Range(0, prompts.Count))
				.UseConverter(i => $"{i + 1}. {prompts[i].GetPromptPreview()}")
=======
				.AddChoices(Enumerable.Range(0, prompts.Count))
				.UseConverter(i => $"{i + 1}. {Markup.Escape(prompts[i].GetPromptPreview())}")
>>>>>>> REPLACE

This change adds Markup.Escape() around the prompt preview to ensure that any characters that could be interpreted as Spectre markup (like square brackets [] which are used for formatting in Spectre.Console) are properly escaped.

You’ll also need to add the Markup class to the using statements:

llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs

<<<<<<< SEARCH
using System.Collections.Generic;
using LlmHistoryToPost.Models;
using Spectre.Console;
=======
using System.Collections.Generic;
using LlmHistoryToPost.Models;
using Spectre.Console;
using Spectre.Console.Rendering;
>>>>>>> REPLACE

These changes will ensure that any special characters in the prompt previews are properly escaped and won’t be misinterpreted as Spectre control sequences.

Tokens: 4.5k sent, 305 received. Cost: $0.02 message, $0.03 session.
Applied edit to llm-history-to-post/core/Services/UserInteractionService.cs
Commit 802c032 fix: Escape Spectre markup in prompt selection preview
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

Verdict: ✅ This solution was trivial when it came down to it.

Conclusion

Today made abundantly clear that I (and maybe the tool) have a lot of learning still to do. It uncovered a general failure not only with how I went about fixing an issue, but I missed at the initial project creation the flaw of not escaping input into Spectre. Something to think about and work on for next time.