I did the same in about the same timeframe. I created a nice little hierarchy of "when writing tests, read docs/test-patterns.md" type logic. The idea was to put all of my personal heuristics about coding in a "lazy loaded" documentation directory. I'm able to generate Java code that is nearly the same as what I would generate if I was coding it myself. I haven't deleted my documentation or anything. I see people making this claim, did you literally delete your coding documentation or something?

It seems like, for example, some people like to use var and some people like to use the full type name in Java declarations. The LLM can't know your preference upfront, you need to tell it. When people talk about shitty vibe-code I assume it's because they didn't do these steps.

I could see (but wouldn't count on it) the argument that the current models are so good at recognizing patterns in the code that in a mature well-organized codebase they don't need to be told what the patterns are, but I haven't bothered with those experiments yet. If it ain't broke don't fix it was my thinking.