Plan a major framework or dependency upgrade
Builds an incremental upgrade path for a framework, language, or library version, with breaking changes mapped to your codebase.
The prompt
Help me plan a major version upgrade.
What I'm upgrading: [e.g. "React 17 to 19", "Python 3.8 to 3.12", "Spring Boot 2 to 3"]
Why: [SECURITY, END OF SUPPORT, NEEDED FEATURE, PERFORMANCE]
Codebase size and shape: [LINES OF CODE, MONOREPO OR NOT, NUMBER OF SERVICES]
Related dependencies: [PASTE package.json / requirements / pom SECTION]
Test coverage and CI: [ROUGH COVERAGE, HOW LONG CI TAKES]
Release notes or migration guide excerpts: [PASTE IF AVAILABLE]
Steps:
1. List the breaking changes relevant to my stack. Only use what's in the release notes I pasted or what you're confident about; mark anything uncertain as "[VERIFY in official migration guide]".
2. For each breaking change: how to find affected code (search patterns, compiler or linter flags), the fix, and whether an automated codemod or tool exists.
3. Identify dependencies that must be upgraded first, and any that block the upgrade entirely.
4. Propose an incremental path: intermediate versions, compatibility shims, deprecation warnings to fix first, and whether to upgrade service by service.
5. Define how to verify: tests to add before upgrading, canary or staged deploy, metrics to compare before and after.
Return:
- A phased plan (phase, work, owner placeholder, done criteria).
- A breaking-changes table (change, how to detect, fix, effort).
- Rollback plan.
- A short summary I can share with my manager covering effort, risk, and what we lose by waiting.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Software Development prompts
What to fill in
- SECURITY, END OF SUPPORT, NEEDED FEATURE, PERFORMANCE
- LINES OF CODE, MONOREPO OR NOT, NUMBER OF SERVICES
- PASTE package.json / requirements / pom SECTION
- ROUGH COVERAGE, HOW LONG CI TAKES
- PASTE IF AVAILABLE
- VERIFY in official migration guide
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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