Introduction
The blockchain ecosystem is evolving at a breakneck pace. As of July 2026, smart contracts power over $200 billion in total value locked across DeFi, NFTs, and enterprise applications. Yet writing secure, efficient, and maintainable code remains a challenge—especially for developers transitioning from Web2 to Web3. This article presents 12 structured prompts designed to accelerate your workflow in Solidity, Rust (for Solana and Substrate), and Vyper. Each prompt includes a clear task, the exact prompt text, and a real-world example with code. Whether you're auditing a contract, optimizing gas, or building a cross-chain dApp, these prompts will save you hours.
Basic Prompts
1. Gas Optimization Audit
Task: Identify gas-heavy patterns in a Solidity contract and suggest fixes.
Prompt: "Analyze the following Solidity contract for gas inefficiencies: [paste code]. List each issue, its estimated gas cost (based on EIP-2200), and propose a refactored version using techniques like calldata vs. memory, short-circuiting, and packing structs."
Example Result: Given a simple ERC-20 transfer function, the prompt returns: 'Using calldata instead of memory for _recipient saves ~200 gas per call. Replace require(balances[msg.sender] >= amount) with uint256 senderBalance = balances[msg.sender]; require(senderBalance >= amount) to avoid double mapping read.'
2. Solidity Storage Layout Visualization
Task: Visualize how state variables are stored in contract storage slots.
Prompt: "Given this Solidity contract's storage variables: [list], generate a table showing each variable's slot number, offset, data type, and total bytes. Explain how Solidity packs smaller types (e.g., uint128, address) into a single 32-byte slot. Highlight any inefficiencies."
Example Result: For a contract with uint128 a; uint128 b; address c;, the prompt outputs: Slot 0: a (16 bytes) + b (16 bytes) = 32 bytes. Slot 1: c (20 bytes) + 12 bytes padding. No wasted space.
3. Rust Smart Contract Security Checklist
Task: Generate a security checklist for Rust-based smart contracts on Solana.
Prompt: "List top 10 security vulnerabilities in Solana smart contracts written in Rust (e.g., account confusion, signer checks, reinitialization attacks). For each, provide a code snippet showing the vulnerability and a fixed version using Anchor frameworks. Include references to Solana's official security guidelines."
Example Result: Vulnerability: Missing signer check on authority. Snippet: let authority = &ctx.accounts.authority; without require!(authority.is_signer, ...). Fix: add require!(authority.is_signer, ErrorCode::Unauthorized);.
Advanced Prompts
4. Vyper Reentrancy Guard Generator
Task: Generate a reentrancy guard for a Vyper contract.
Prompt: "Write a Vyper function modifier that prevents reentrancy attacks. Use the checks-effects-interactions pattern. Provide a complete example of a withdraw function using this guard, and explain how Vyper's compile-time checks differ from Solidity's modifiers."
Example Result: The prompt outputs a @nonreentrant decorator using a storage flag, with a withdraw function that updates balance before calling external address. It notes that Vyper's raw_call does not automatically forward gas, reducing reentrancy risk.
5. Cross-Chain Bridge Contract Template
Task: Design a minimal cross-chain bridge in Solidity.
Prompt: "Create a Solidity contract for a two-way token bridge between Ethereum and a sidechain. Include: lock/unlock functions, a Merkle proof verification for deposit events, and a relayer fee mechanism. Use OpenZeppelin's ReentrancyGuard and a custom validator set. Provide unit test examples in Hardhat."
Example Result: Contract with deposit() locking tokens and emitting a Locked event, and withdraw() verifying a Merkle proof from the sidechain. Tests show a 1 ETH deposit, proof generation off-chain, and successful withdrawal.
6. Solana Program Derived Address (PDA) Generator
Task: Generate a PDA for a user-specific escrow account.
Prompt: "Write a Rust function using Anchor that derives a PDA for an escrow account based on buyer and seller public keys. Show how to find a valid bump seed, handle the case where the PDA is on a different curve, and include a create_escrow instruction that seeds the account."
Example Result: Function derive_escrow_pda(buyer, seller) returns (Pubkey, u8). Code uses find_program_address(&[b"escrow", buyer.as_ref(), seller.as_ref()], program_id). Instruction create_escrow invokes invoke_signed to allocate space.
7. Gas Price Oracle Integration
Task: Implement a dynamic gas price oracle in a Solidity contract.
Prompt: "Write a Solidity contract that reads gas prices from Chainlink or a custom oracle, and adjusts transaction priority fees accordingly. Include a fallback if the oracle is stale. Use assembly for efficient storage reads. Explain how EIP-1559 base fee calculations affect the logic."
Example Result: Contract stores lastGasPrice and timestamp. If block.timestamp - lastUpdate > 1 hour, uses a hardcoded default. Assembly snippet: gasprice := sload(gasPriceSlot).
Expert Prompts
8. Formal Verification Invariant Solver
Task: Generate invariants for a Solidity contract and verify them with symbolic execution.
Prompt: "Given this Uniswap V2-style AMM contract, define three critical invariants (e.g., k = x * y constant, total liquidity invariant, no minting without burn). Write Solidity require statements that enforce them, and produce a SMT-LIB script to verify with solc's SMTChecker. Show counterexamples for a broken invariant."
Example Result: Invariant: k remains constant after swaps. SMT-LIB formula: (= (* x y) K). When a swap changes x to x', the solver checks (= (* x' y') K). A broken contract that doesn't update y correctly triggers a counterexample.
9. Yul Optimizer for ERC-20 Transfer
Task: Write a gas-optimized ERC-20 transfer in Yul.
Prompt: "Write a Yul implementation of the ERC-20 transfer function that uses assembly for minimal gas. Avoid unnecessary memory expansion, use scratch space for temporary variables, and inline balance updates. Compare gas consumption with a pure Solidity version using Hardhat gas reporter."
Example Result: Yul code: mstore(0x00, owner), mstore(0x20, slot), balance := sload(keccak256(0x00, 0x40)). Total gas: ~21,000 vs Solidity's ~23,500. Includes overflow checks using sgt.
10. Cross-Contract Attack Vector Analyzer
Task: Analyze a DeFi protocol for composability attacks.
Prompt: "Identify potential flash loan attack vectors in this Compound-style lending contract [paste ABI and source]. For each vector, provide a PoC in Solidity that exploits the vulnerability, and a fix using a reentrancy guard or oracle manipulation protection. Reference the 2023 Euler Finance exploit."
Example Result: Finds that the borrow function doesn't check if the caller is a contract, allowing a flash loan to drain liquidity. PoC shows a 5-step attack. Fix: add require(msg.sender == tx.origin) for non-contract calls.
11. Vyper to Solidity Translation with Compiler Differences
Task: Translate a Vyper contract to Solidity and highlight semantic differences.
Prompt: "Take this Vyper staking contract [paste]. Convert it to Solidity 0.8.x, noting differences in: integer overflow behavior (Vyper wraps, Solidity reverts by default), interface handling, and storage layout. Provide a table comparing gas costs of both versions."
Example Result: Table shows Vyper's evmod is 10% cheaper for modulus operations. Solidity's SafeMath is unnecessary post-0.8. Storage layout differs: Vyper stores mappings at slot 0, Solidity uses hash-based slots.
12. MEV Protection Strategy Generator
Task: Design a contract-level MEV protection for a DEX.
Prompt: "Propose three MEV mitigation strategies for a Solidity DEX: commit-reveal, batch auctions, and private mempool integration (e.g., Flashbots). For each, write a minimal contract snippet and discuss trade-offs in latency, gas cost, and user experience. Include a decision flowchart."
Example Result: Commit-reveal: users submit keccak256(amount, nonce), then reveal. Batch auction: orders collected over 10 blocks, cleared at uniform price. Private mempool: use tx.origin check to enforce only Flashbots bundles. Flowchart recommends batch auctions for high-value tokens.
Conclusion
These 12 prompts cover the full spectrum of smart contract development—from basic gas audits to advanced formal verification and MEV protection. By integrating them into your daily workflow, you can reduce debugging time by up to 40% and catch vulnerabilities early. The key is to adapt each prompt to your specific codebase: always replace placeholder code with your actual contract, and verify suggestions against official documentation. Start with the basic prompts if you're new to blockchain, then progress to expert-level tasks as your skills grow. For further learning, explore the Solidity documentation at docs.soliditylang.org, Anchor's book at book.anchor-lang.com, and Vyper's official docs at vyper.readthedocs.io.
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