How Lens Coding Works

AI gives confident answers. Lens Coding makes them actually useful.

The Problem with AI Advice

You ask AI for help troubleshooting an outage. It gives you a perfect answer:

"Restart the database server and check the connection pool settings."

There's just one problem: You can't restart the database. You don't have access. That's the DBA's job. And now you've wasted time on advice you can't use.

This happens constantly because:

  • AI doesn't know your role or access level
  • AI doesn't understand your organization's structure
  • AI doesn't know what you CAN'T do
  • AI gives generic "best practice" answers that ignore your reality

What is a Reality Lens?

A Reality Lens is a structured document you paste into any AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) at the start of your conversation. It tells the AI everything it needs to know about your world.

🎯

Your Role

What you're responsible for

"I'm a Middleware Engineer managing Tomcat clusters"

⛔

Your Constraints

What you CAN'T do

"I cannot restart databases or modify firewall rules"

🗺️

Your Topology

What's upstream/downstream from you

"Load balancer → My app servers → Oracle DB (DBA team)"

🏢

Your Environment

Company context

"Enterprise, 24/7 on-call, PCI-DSS compliance required"

Result: AI reasons WITHIN your constraints instead of around them.

See the Difference

❌ WITHOUT Reality Lens
You ask: "Tomcat is throwing connection timeout errors to the database. How do I fix it?"
AI says:

"Here's how to fix database connection timeouts:
  1. Restart the database server
  2. Increase the connection pool size in your database config
  3. Check the database server's max_connections setting
  4. Restart Tomcat after making changes"
Problem: Steps 1-3 require DBA access you don't have. You've learned nothing actionable.
✔ WITH Reality Lens
You ask: "Tomcat is throwing connection timeout errors to the database. How do I fix it?"
AI says:

"Given your constraints (no direct DB access, can modify Tomcat config), here's what you can do:

Within your control:
  1. Check Tomcat's connection pool settings in context.xml
  2. Verify your maxWait and maxActive values
  3. Review thread dumps for connection pool exhaustion
  4. Check if recent deployments changed connection handling
Coordinate with DBA team:
  1. Request they check active connections from your app servers
  2. Ask them to verify no blocking queries
Escalation path: If steps 1-4 don't resolve it, escalate to your DBA with the diagnostic data you've gathered."
Result: Every step is something you can actually do or coordinate.

Using Your Reality Lens

1

Generate

Select your role, tech stack, and constraints. We create a customized reality lens (~2,500 words).

2

Save

Download the markdown file or copy to clipboard. Save it somewhere accessible.

3

Paste

Start a new conversation with any AI assistant. Paste your reality lens first.

4

Ask

Ask your question normally. AI now understands your world.

💡 Pro Tip

Create different reality lenses for different contexts:

  • Production vs Staging environments
  • Different applications you support
  • On-call vs normal business hours

The Lens Coding Methodology

Every Reality Lens is built on four pillars that ensure AI gives you actionable advice:

🛡️

1. Constraint-First Reasoning

AI considers what you CAN'T do before suggesting solutions. No more impossible recommendations.

↩️

2. Reversibility Awareness

AI prioritizes actions that can be undone. Read-only diagnostics before risky changes.

💥

3. Blast Radius Consciousness

AI understands the scope of impact. It won't suggest changes that could take down production.

📋

4. Role-Appropriate Actions

AI respects organizational boundaries. It suggests escalation paths when something is outside your domain.

Inside Your Reality Lens

🎯 Role & Environment

  • Your title and responsibilities
  • Company size and industry
  • Team structure and on-call setup
  • Decision-making authority

🔧 Technology Stack

  • Systems you directly manage
  • Tools you use daily
  • Integrations and dependencies

⛔ Hard Constraints

  • What you cannot do (database, infrastructure, etc.)
  • Approval requirements
  • Compliance restrictions

🗺️ System Topology

  • What's upstream (you can't control)
  • What you manage (you can control)
  • What's downstream (you can't control)

🔍 Diagnostic Framework

  • Role-specific troubleshooting steps
  • Safe read-only commands to run first
  • When to escalate and to whom

🚨 Escalation Paths

  • Who to contact for what
  • How to hand off effectively

Word count: ~2,000-3,000 words of context, customized for your exact situation.

Built for People with Constraints

🔧

IT Operations

Engineers who can't restart the database, modify firewalls, or deploy code without approval.

Live Now
⚖️

Legal

Associates who can't make settlement offers, sign contracts, or waive client privilege.

Coming Soon
🏥

Healthcare Admin

Administrators who can't override clinical decisions, access certain records, or approve procedures.

Coming Soon
💼

Customer Success

CSMs who can't offer discounts, modify contracts, or escalate engineering tickets directly.

Coming Soon
💰

Finance

Analysts who can't approve expenses, modify forecasts, or access certain accounts.

Coming Soon
📚

Education

Staff who can't change grades, override academic policies, or access student records.

Coming Soon

🎯 Common thread: Everyone has constraints. AI needs to know yours.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this work with ChatGPT and Claude?
Yes. Reality Lenses work with any AI assistant that accepts text input. Just paste it at the start of your conversation.
How often should I update my reality lens?
Update when your role, access, or environment changes significantly. Most people create 2-3 reality lenses for different contexts.
Is my information stored anywhere?
Your reality lens is generated client-side and saved to your device. We don't store your organizational details.
Why not just explain my constraints in each conversation?
You could, but you'd need to remember everything every time. A reality lens captures it once, comprehensively, so you can focus on your actual question.
How is this different from custom instructions?
Custom instructions are limited in length and scope. A Reality Lens is a comprehensive briefing document (~2,500 words) with structured sections that give AI much deeper understanding.

Simple, Transparent Pricing

Try free while supplies last, or pay per reality lens. No subscriptions.

Limited

Free Reality Lens

$0

while available

10 free globally per month. Email required.

  • 1 custom reality lens
  • Full constraint-first framework
  • Works with any AI

Single

$9.99

one-time

Perfect for one role.

  • 1 custom reality lens
  • Full constraint-first framework
  • Works with any AI

Ready to Try It?

Generate your first Reality Lens free while supplies last.

Claim Your Free Reality Lens → See the methodology in depth →