I've been using the planning mode for a while now. It's actually very very good. I now use it almost exclusively when I start working on a new feature.

Here's my workflow:

• Shift + Tab twice to enter the planning mode

• Brainstorming the implementation with Claude, provide feedback on the solution, iterate until I am happy with the solution.

• I use @ reference to help Claude with additional context so it doesn't spend a lot time exploring

• For convenience, I also connect CC to VS Code by using the `/ide` slash command. I open a file in VS, select the lines, and ask CC about the lines.

• I iterate with Claude until I am happy with the solution. After that, Shift + Tab twice to enter auto edit mode. CC will complete the implementation with very little intervention.

I find that with this approach, I don't even need to create PLAN.md anymore. I try to keep the feature iterations small, and commit the changes as soon as the code is working.

Do you have similar experience?

Addendum:

To use the /IDE command, see https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/ide-integrations

https://cuong.io/blog/2025/06/23-claude-code-ide-vs-code

The key for this to be effective is to keep the scope small. Plan what you will do in the next 30 minutes or less.

The workflow It should be

plan > code > debug > commit

plan > code > debug > commit

plan > code > debug > commit

...

This works really well with small and incremental changes.

Pro tip: while waiting for Claude, you can open another terminal and start another Claude. You can have multiple planning sessions at the same time.

For long discussions, you may use the normal mode and just Claude not to make any changes.

Better yet, use the repomix cli to create a dump of your project.

https://github.com/yamadashy/repomix

You then can upload it to ChatGPT or Claude Web UI for long discussions. Chatgpt's project + canvas feature is super neat for this kind of long planning.

Maybe you miss it:

Plan mode is a special operating mode in Claude Code that allows you to research, analyze, and create implementation plans without making any actual changes to your system or codebase.

What Plan Mode Does:

Research & Analysis Only:

• Read files and examine code

• Search through codebases

• Analyze project structure

• Gather information from web sources

• Review documentation

No System Changes:

• Cannot edit files

• Cannot run bash commands that modify anything

• Cannot create/delete files

• Cannot make git commits

• Cannot install packages or change configurations

When Plan Mode Activates:

Plan mode is typically activated when:

• You ask for planning or analysis before implementation

• You want to understand a codebase before making changes

• You request a detailed implementation strategy

• The system detects you want to plan before executing

How It Works:

1. Research Phase: I gather all necessary information using read-only tools

2. Plan Creation: I develop a comprehensive implementation plan

3. Plan Presentation: I use the exit_plan_mode tool to present the plan

4. User Approval: You review and approve the plan

5. Execution Phase: After approval, I can proceed with actual implementation

Benefits:

• Safety: Prevents accidental changes during exploration

• Thorough Planning: Ensures comprehensive analysis before implementation

• User Control: You approve exactly what will be done before it happens

• Better Outcomes: Well-planned implementations tend to be more successful

Maybe you missed:

To activate PLAN MODE hit Shift + TAB and again Shift + TAB

Plan mode is a special operating mode in Claude Code that allows you to research, analyze, and create implementation plans without making any actual changes to your system or codebase.

What Plan Mode Does:

Research & Analysis Only:

• Read files and examine code

• Search through codebases

• Analyze project structure

• Gather information from web sources

• Review documentation

No System Changes:

• Cannot edit files

• Cannot run bash commands that modify anything

• Cannot create/delete files

• Cannot make git commits

• Cannot install packages or change configurations

When Plan Mode Activates:

Plan mode is typically activated when:

• You ask for planning or analysis before implementation

• You want to understand a codebase before making changes

• You request a detailed implementation strategy

• The system detects you want to plan before executing

How It Works:

1. Research Phase: I gather all necessary information using read-only tools

2. Plan Creation: I develop a comprehensive implementation plan

3. Plan Presentation: I use the exit_plan_mode tool to present the plan

4. User Approval: You review and approve the plan

5. Execution Phase: After approval, I can proceed with actual implementation

Benefits:

• Safety: Prevents accidental changes during exploration

• Thorough Planning: Ensures comprehensive analysis before implementation

• User Control: You approve exactly what will be done before it happens

• Better Outcomes: Well-planned implementations tend to be more successful

Hey guys!

I used Claude a lot these past days and as I noticed many users having issues with performance. I tried different variations on performing same tasks since I was also one of them ( I created a post here too )

After my "research" I concluded 1 simple rule:

ALWAYS BE IN PLAN MODE WHEN SENDING A MESSAGE TO CLAUDE.

Let Claude respond and create TODO checkboxes after you send it a prompt. Literally don't send messages to it if you are not in the Plan mode. It will get confused, lose track of whats doing if you send it a message on the fly. It is where everything collapses. It is when it starts to rush the solution...plan mode is the ultimate antidote that fixes almost all the problems.

I don't think it was like this a few weeks back, but then again I think most of started using Claude with planning and then accepting the changes after a detailed plan. We thought "WOW CRAZY". Then we stepped over the line and just kept adding commands while Claude was working midway on the fly to throw in the changes. This is the ultimate breaking point.

Even if you are in "Bypassing permissions" and you tell it to plan but don't code, it won't perform good...it gets lazy.

It sounds very simple, but PLAN MODE is truly magical.

EDIT: Forget what I said. With some new update, CC just became fully unusable. Can't do shit no matter the planning. I apologize.

I've been watching so many devs complain about Claude Code because they follow this workflow:

- ask for code

- get something back

- shift+tab (let it rip)

Then they wonder why they have garbage code or Sonnet "pukes" out a bad result.

I've been getting absolutely amazing results toggling on plan mode + Opus.

And I don't just use it for a couple minutes. I'll routinely spend 15-20 min in plan mode before I have it write any a single line of code.

Sometimes I'll even have multiple planning sessions before I define on an architecture that looks good to me.

Even before plan mode (for larger features) I'll write out the entire spec in a requirements doc, throw it back in plan mode, and define the implementation plan in chunks. THEN I will take each chunk and have CC work through it, bit by bit, finalizing it before moving onto the next feature chunk.

Why is no one else doing this? Have we lost all of our agency as developers, and just expect the AI to write everything for us right out of the gate, perfectly?

The workflow that's been working for me may seem more tedious, but the code quality difference is insane.

I then review every single line that comes out, for a while, to ensure I'm vibing with it's vibe. Only when it starts to "get" what I want it to do will I toggle on auto-edit mode (and a lot of the times, I won't even get to this point because I want to ensure all of the code it writes is 👌).

Maybe I'm being slightly overly cautious here, but I don't think I am. The difference in code quality is night and day.

When I just let Claude run wild, I get code that may or may not work, and even if it works it is written technically "wrong" and becomes a maintenance nightmare.

When I use my plan approach, I get code that I'd actually approve in a PR.

Anyone else spending this much time in plan mode?

Sometimes I wonder if I'm overthinking it, but then I see the code other people are shipping with AI and... yeah. Curious if others have found a sweet spot between speed and quality.

Hi there!

Anyone else experiencing this with CC plan mode?

Start: "Let's plan feature X"
CC: "Here's the plan"

Me: "Refine the plan"
CC: "Here's some implementation details with plan"

Me: "Refine the plan"
CC: "Here's mostly implementation with some plan details"

Me: "Refine the plan"
CC: "Here's implementation ready to copy-paste"

(cf. screenshots taken right now that led me to ask here)

I want iterative planning refinement, not premature implementation. Each refinement should improve the plan, not drift toward code. Keeping plans abstract helps maintain a better overview of what we're going to build.

Workarounds? Best practices to keep it abstract?

EDIT: It might be necessary to point out that I'm not using "Refine the plan" as my intermediate prompt, but instead I'm listing the changes to be made to the plan (often adding or removing steps, or asking for naming changes).

Before I knew about Planning Mode, it was obvious to me that complex features needed planning—breaking them into smaller tasks, even if the prompt seemed detailed enough.

From the start, I’ve been using Claude Code by simply asking it to create a Markdown plan and help me figure out what I might be forgetting before we begin coding. It works really well, and here’s why:

• I get a clear, easy to read plan saved as a file, I can revisit it anytime, even deep into coding

• The plan doesn't get lost or altered by auto-compact (and honestly, I don't have a single complex feature that ever fit into one context before auto-compact)

• It’s easy to reference specific parts of the plan (Cmd+Alt+K)

• I can iterate with CC as much as I want, refine sections or add details to the plan, even when the coding has already started

• The task list turns into [x] checkboxes that Claude can check

• Even if you’re not using Zen MCP (probably most people aren’t), you can still take the .md plan and get a second opinion from ChatGPT o3 or Gemini 2.5 Pro

Now, everyone is advising to use Planning Mode. I’ve tried it a few times. But honestly? I still don’t really see how it’s better than my simpler Markdown-based approach.

So, when and why is Planning Mode actually better than just asking to create Markdown plan?

Claude Code has just stealthily integrated a plan mode by hitting shift+tab once more after enabling auto-updates. No files editable, purely read & think. No documentation or release notes anywhere yet, as far as I can see.

Likely based on this GitHub issue (and other demand) https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/982

Hi everyone,

I saw a comment in a recent thread that was a good one, and I had a similar question.

Is plan mode enough for you all, or do you prefer to explicitly create plans in markdown? If you swap between the two, what hybrid workflow do you find most useful?

I'm used to having Claude write out implementation plans and document granular steps in a markdown doc, but I've considered using plan mode too. Gonna try it myself, but thought may as well ask the community.

Thanks!

EDIT: thank you to everyone who has responded! Y'all have given me a lot to think about and try :)

I was today's year old when I came to know that he plan document survives /compact because it's stored separately from your conversation.

Note: This is based on observing Claude Code's behavior and system prompt structure, not official docs. Happy to be corrected if anyone has more info.

Hey guys,

I'm just interested in your method for implementing these modes.

It's not very well documented. As far as I can see, it goes more with the vibe of your prompt to decide when to go into plan mode, when to engage ultrathink.

I personally use +ultrathink +opus as a suffix on many of my prompts, and sometimes (but not often) use +plan or /plan

Any thoughts? Any way to reliably force the issue, or is it more a case of Claude going "Hmmm, user posted '++++ULTRATHINK ULTRATHINK ULTRATHINK, suggesting they want me to think carefully about this task..."

When kicking off a session on Claude Code in a browser, is it possible to enter plan mode? I tried the shift+tab method that works in the CLI, but that doesn't seem to work? Any help would be much appreciated!

Share your methods and tips!

After a few months using Claude Code, I ended up developing a somewhat different workflow that’s been working really well. The basic idea is to use two separate Claudes - one to think and another to execute.

Here’s how it works:

Claude Desktop App: acts as supervisor. It reads all project documentation, analyzes logs when there’s a bug, investigates the code and creates very specific prompts describing what needs to be done. But it never modifies anything directly.

Claude Code CLI in VS Code: receives these prompts and does the implementations. Has full access to the project and executes the code changes.

My role: is basically copying prompts from one Claude to the other, running tests and reporting what happened.

The flow in practice goes something like this: I start the session having Claude Desktop read the CLAUDE.md (complete documentation) and the database schema. When I have a bug or new feature, I describe it to Claude Desktop. It investigates, reads the relevant files and creates a surgical prompt. I copy that prompt to Claude Code which implements it. Then Claude Desktop validates by reading each modified file - it checks security, performance, whether it followed project standards, etc. If there’s an error in tests, Claude Desktop analyzes the logs and generates a new correction prompt.

What makes this viable: I had to create some automations because Claude Code doesn’t have native access to certain things:

1. CLAUDE.md - Maintains complete project documentation. I have a script that automatically updates this file whenever I modify code. This way Claude Desktop always has the current context.

2. EstruturaBanco.txt - Since Claude Code doesn’t access the database directly, this file has the entire structure: tables, columns, relationships. Also has an update script I run when I change the schema.

3. Log System - Claude CLI and Code Desktop don’t see terminal logs, so I created two .log files (one for frontend, another for backend) that automatically record only the last execution. Avoids accumulating gigabytes of logs and Claude Desktop can read them when it needs to investigate errors.

Important: I always use Claude Code Desktop in the project’s LOCAL folder, never in the GitHub repository. Learned this the hard way - GitHub’s cache/snapshot doesn’t pick up the latest Claude CLI updates, so it becomes impossible to verify what was recently created or fixed.

About the prompts: I use XML tags to better structure the instructions like: <role>, <project_context>, <workflow_architecture>, <tools_policy>, <investigation_protocol>, <quality_expectations>. Really helps maintain consistency and Claude understands better what it can or can’t do.

Results so far: The project has 496 passing unit tests, queries running at an average of 2.80ms, and I’ve managed to keep everything well organized. The separation of responsibilities helps a lot - the Claude that plans isn’t the same one that executes, so there’s no context loss.

And you, how do you use Claude Code day-to-day? Do you go straight to implementation or do you also have a structured workflow? Does anyone else use automation systems to keep context updated? Curious to know how you solve these challenges.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Since the latest version 1.0.5 now supports windows natively. I was really happy to see this and installed it. Got it working, however I'm not sure how to get the Plan mode enabled? Shift+Tab doesn't seem to work. Does anyone know if there is another shortcut?

EDIT: Thanks to thingygeoff who responded in a anther thread. This fixed the issue! Updated my node version and it and now working. https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1lxu1p9/comment/n36syer/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

tl;dr

Claude Code's Plan mode, contrary to almost universal opinion, does not prevent Claude from making file edits or running commands. It's been this way since day 1, and though Anthropic is aware of it and considers it a bug, they've made no visible effort to remediate it since one of the developers admitted it 2 months ago. Using tweakcc, however, you can create custom "Toolsets" which are deeply integrated with Claude Code and provide actual control over Claude's available tools.

Details

It's commonly believed that Claude Code's "Plan mode" feature blocks potentially dangerous tools such as Edit, Write, and Bash.

• "Use Plan Mode for safe code analysis [...] by analyzing the codebase with read-only operations" - https://code.claude.com/docs/en/common-workflows

• "Plan Mode provides safety for sensitive projects [...] You control when changes actually happen instead of guessing whether Claude will edit files." - https://www.claudelog.com/mechanics/plan-mode/

• "Crucially, Plan Mode is read-only. It cannot create, modify, or delete files — making it safe environment for exploration and planning." - https://medium.com/@kuntal-c/claude-code-plan-mode-revolutionizing-the-senior-engineers-workflow-21d054ee3420

• "Plan Mode lets you prime your AI assistant with relevant codebase information without worrying about accidental changes." - https://agiinprogress.substack.com/p/mastering-claude-code-plan-mode-the

• "But here’s the kicker: It cannot write a single line of code until you approve the plan." - https://www.nathanonn.com/how-i-discovered-the-claude-code-feature-that-10xd-my-development-speed-and-why-youre-probably-missing-it/

• "In this mode, Claude will only generate a plan and will not write any files or make code edits, staying in a read-only state." - https://stevekinney.com/courses/ai-development/claude-code-plan-mode

It's not true.

• [Bug] Plan Mode Incorrectly Modifies Files Without Explicit Confirmation anthropics/claude-code#8516: "This is concerning as it bypassed plan mode's safety mechanism and pushed changes directly to the main branch without user approval."

• [MODEL] Violation of plan mode: whilst in plan mode Claude code edited files anthropics/claude-code#7474: "The overall impact to my project was not significant, but the implication that plan mode is unsafe and may make edits is VERY concerning."

• Plan Mode Failure: Claude executes commands and writes files instead of creating a plan in v1.0.95 anthropics/claude-code#6716: "This is a high-severity bug as it breaks a core security and safety feature. Users rely on Plan Mode to prevent accidental modifications to their environment."

• Plan Mode Violation - Agent Executes Plan After User Explicitly Selects "No, keep planning" anthropics/claude-code#5527: "Critical. This bug breaks the fundamental trust and safety model of plan mode. Users rely on this mode to review and vet the agent's proposed actions before any changes are made to their system."

• BUG: Task Tool Agents Bypass Plan Mode Write Restrictions anthropics/claude-code#5406: "This should be treated as a P0/P1 bug as it compromises the fundamental safety guarantee of Plan Mode."

• [BUG] File editing operations are not blocked in plan mode anthropics/claude-code#2467: "This defeats the purpose of plan mode, which is meant to prevent unintended modifications while planning tasks."

Plan mode does not limit the tools that Claude has access to, nor restrict the tools that can execute. It simply injects the following text into the system prompt:

That's it. There's no plan-mode-specific builtin protection against editing files or running commands. It relies purely on the model adhering to the instructions. If it gets confused, forgets, or is tricked, you're in trouble. If—

• you happen to have rm or git reset automatically allowed, for example—it's possible since it's common for Claude to run those commands for legit reasons—and

• you're in plan mode while Claude is researching (or a stupider, more dangerous model via a proxy), and

• you're focusing on something else because you assume that plan mode is protecting you, and

• it gets confused by a long struggle with a difficult issue and forgets about the instructions (or reads some malicious instructions from a web search), and

• it runs something dangerous like rm -rf <folder>, or git reset --hard HEAD, then...

• ?

This is expected

Anthropic has documented that this is a known bug. Dickson Tsai, a developer on the Claude Code team, wrote the following on September 11th, on public GH issue #7474 (anthropics/claude-code#7474 (comment)):

EVERYONE thinks that plan mode is actually technically safer, so WHY isn't this called out clearly in the docs???

As far as I can tell, it's been this way since the beginning. It's not a regression. Bug report #2467 proves that it was a problem as of June 22nd. I verified myself with 1.0.24 (the oldest working version of CC) that it was the case as of June 12th.

There IS a solution

I spent a weekend adding a new feature to Claude Code to fix this. I call it "toolsets." A toolset it just a subset of CC's builtin tools that Claude should have access to. I added a new builtin /toolset slash command that you can use to activate a toolset.

To create toolsets, as well as to patch Claude Code to support them, use tweakcc (https://github.com/Piebald-AI/tweakcc). You create toolsets interactively in tweakcc by selecting the tools you want the toolset to have, and then you use the apply menu or run npx tweakcc --apply to automatically perform all the patching required for toolsets.

Interestingly, while it filters out the disabled tools before they even go to the model, and so it's not able to call them successfully, when you remove a large number of its tools, Claude tends to hallucinate that it has them. It does tend to get the basic ones like Read/Write/Edit/Bash/TodoWrite right (presumably because they're mentioned in the system prompt in various places?), but it often makes up several additional plausible but nonsense tools pertaining to Git, editor/LSP integration, computer use, and various other extensions of existing tools like BashInteractive, TodoRead, or UrlScreenshot. Even worse, it will hallucinate calling them and getting output from them, making the entire flow up!

I found that turning on thinking will somehow force it to recognize that it can't call tools that it doesn't actually have. After wrestling with what would seem to be hidden error messages (maybe on Anthropic's end) it either finds an alternate solution or admits defeat. But in my admittedly minimal testing it's never resorted to hallucination when thinking is on.

Quick pro-tip from a fellow lazy person: You can throw this book of a post into one of the many text-to-speech AI services like ElevenLabs Reader or Natural Reader and have it read the post for you :)

Edit: Many of you are asking for a repo so I will make an effort to get one up in the next couple days. All of this is a part of a work project at the moment, so I have to take some time to copy everything into a fresh project and scrub any identifying info. I will post the link here when it's up. You can also follow me and I will post it on my profile so you get notified. Thank you all for the kind comments. I'm happy to share this info with others since I don't get much chance to do so in my day-to-day.

Edit (final?): I bit the bullet and spent the afternoon getting a github repo up for you guys. Just made a post with some additional info here or you can go straight to the source:

🎯 Repository: https://github.com/diet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase

Disclaimer

I made a post about six months ago sharing my experience after a week of hardcore use with Claude Code. It's now been about six months of hardcore use, and I would like to share some more tips, tricks, and word vomit with you all. I may have went a little overboard here so strap in, grab a coffee, sit on the toilet or whatever it is you do when doom-scrolling reddit.

I want to start the post off with a disclaimer: all the content within this post is merely me sharing what setup is working best for me currently and should not be taken as gospel or the only correct way to do things. It's meant to hopefully inspire you to improve your setup and workflows with AI agentic coding. I'm just a guy, and this is just like, my opinion, man.

Also, I'm on the 20x Max plan, so your mileage may vary. And if you're looking for vibe-coding tips, you should look elsewhere. If you want the best out of CC, then you should be working together with it: planning, reviewing, iterating, exploring different approaches, etc.

Quick Overview

After 6 months of pushing Claude Code to its limits (solo rewriting 300k LOC), here's the system I built:

• Skills that actually auto-activate when needed

• Dev docs workflow that prevents Claude from losing the plot

• PM2 + hooks for zero-errors-left-behind

• Army of specialized agents for reviews, testing, and planning

Let's get into it.

Background

I'm a software engineer who has been working on production web apps for the last seven years or so. And I have fully embraced the wave of AI with open arms. I'm not too worried about AI taking my job anytime soon, as it is a tool that I use to leverage my capabilities. In doing so, I have been building MANY new features and coming up with all sorts of new proposal presentations put together with Claude and GPT-5 Thinking to integrate new AI systems into our production apps. Projects I would have never dreamt of having the time to even consider before integrating AI into my workflow. And with all that, I'm giving myself a good deal of job security and have become the AI guru at my job since everyone else is about a year or so behind on how they're integrating AI into their day-to-day.

With my newfound confidence, I proposed a pretty large redesign/refactor of one of our web apps used as an internal tool at work. This was a pretty rough college student-made project that was forked off another project developed by me as an intern (created about 7 years ago and forked 4 years ago). This may have been a bit overly ambitious of me since, to sell it to the stakeholders, I agreed to finish a top-down redesign of this fairly decent-sized project (~100k LOC) in a matter of a few months...all by myself. I knew going in that I was going to have to put in extra hours to get this done, even with the help of CC. But deep down, I know it's going to be a hit, automating several manual processes and saving a lot of time for a lot of people at the company.

It's now six months later... yeah, I probably should not have agreed to this timeline. I have tested the limits of both Claude as well as my own sanity trying to get this thing done. I completely scrapped the old frontend, as everything was seriously outdated and I wanted to play with the latest and greatest. I'm talkin' React 16 JS → React 19 TypeScript, React Query v2 → TanStack Query v5, React Router v4 w/ hashrouter → TanStack Router w/ file-based routing, Material UI v4 → MUI v7, all with strict adherence to best practices. The project is now at ~300-400k LOC and my life expectancy ~5 years shorter. It's finally ready to put up for testing, and I am incredibly happy with how things have turned out.

This used to be a project with insurmountable tech debt, ZERO test coverage, HORRIBLE developer experience (testing things was an absolute nightmare), and all sorts of jank going on. I addressed all of those issues with decent test coverage, manageable tech debt, and implemented a command-line tool for generating test data as well as a dev mode to test different features on the frontend. During this time, I have gotten to know CC's abilities and what to expect out of it.

A Note on Quality and Consistency

I've noticed a recurring theme in forums and discussions - people experiencing frustration with usage limits and concerns about output quality declining over time. I want to be clear up front: I'm not here to dismiss those experiences or claim it's simply a matter of "doing it wrong." Everyone's use cases and contexts are different, and valid concerns deserve to be heard.

That said, I want to share what's been working for me. In my experience, CC's output has actually improved significantly over the last couple of months, and I believe that's largely due to the workflow I've been constantly refining. My hope is that if you take even a small bit of inspiration from my system and integrate it into your CC workflow, you'll give it a better chance at producing quality output that you're happy with.

Now, let's be real - there are absolutely times when Claude completely misses the mark and produces suboptimal code. This can happen for various reasons. First, AI models are stochastic, meaning you can get widely varying outputs from the same input. Sometimes the randomness just doesn't go your way, and you get an output that's legitimately poor quality through no fault of your own. Other times, it's about how the prompt is structured. There can be significant differences in outputs given slightly different wording because the model takes things quite literally. If you misword or phrase something ambiguously, it can lead to vastly inferior results.

Sometimes You Just Need to Step In

Look, AI is incredible, but it's not magic. There are certain problems where pattern recognition and human intuition just win. If you've spent 30 minutes watching Claude struggle with something that you could fix in 2 minutes, just fix it yourself. No shame in that. Think of it like teaching someone to ride a bike, sometimes you just need to steady the handlebars for a second before letting go again.

I've seen this especially with logic puzzles or problems that require real-world common sense. AI can brute-force a lot of things, but sometimes a human just "gets it" faster. Don't let stubbornness or some misguided sense of "but the AI should do everything" waste your time. Step in, fix the issue, and keep moving.

I've had my fair share of terrible prompting, which usually happens towards the end of the day where I'm getting lazy and I'm not putting that much effort into my prompts. And the results really show. So next time you are having these kinds of issues where you think the output is way worse these days because you think Anthropic shadow-nerfed Claude, I encourage you to take a step back and reflect on how you are prompting.

Re-prompt often. You can hit double-esc to bring up your previous prompts and select one to branch from. You'd be amazed how often you can get way better results armed with the knowledge of what you don't want when giving the same prompt. All that to say, there can be many reasons why the output quality seems to be worse, and it's good to self-reflect and consider what you can do to give it the best possible chance to get the output you want.

As some wise dude somewhere probably said, "Ask not what Claude can do for you, ask what context you can give to Claude" ~ Wise Dude

Alright, I'm going to step down from my soapbox now and get on to the good stuff.

My System

I've implemented a lot changes to my workflow as it relates to CC over the last 6 months, and the results have been pretty great, IMO.

Skills Auto-Activation System (Game Changer!)

This one deserves its own section because it completely transformed how I work with Claude Code.

The Problem

So Anthropic releases this Skills feature, and I'm thinking "this looks awesome!" The idea of having these portable, reusable guidelines that Claude can reference sounded perfect for maintaining consistency across my massive codebase. I spent a good chunk of time with Claude writing up comprehensive skills for frontend development, backend development, database operations, workflow management, etc. We're talking thousands of lines of best practices, patterns, and examples.

And then... nothing. Claude just wouldn't use them. I'd literally use the exact keywords from the skill descriptions. Nothing. I'd work on files that should trigger the skills. Nothing. It was incredibly frustrating because I could see the potential, but the skills just sat there like expensive decorations.

The "Aha!" Moment

That's when I had the idea of using hooks. If Claude won't automatically use skills, what if I built a system that MAKES it check for relevant skills before doing anything?

So I dove into Claude Code's hook system and built a multi-layered auto-activation architecture with TypeScript hooks. And it actually works!

How It Works

I created two main hooks:

1. UserPromptSubmit Hook (runs BEFORE Claude sees your message):

• Analyzes your prompt for keywords and intent patterns

• Checks which skills might be relevant

• Injects a formatted reminder into Claude's context

• Now when I ask "how does the layout system work?" Claude sees a big "🎯 SKILL ACTIVATION CHECK - Use project-catalog-developer skill" (project catalog is a large complex data grid based feature on my front end) before even reading my question

2. Stop Event Hook (runs AFTER Claude finishes responding):

• Analyzes which files were edited

• Checks for risky patterns (try-catch blocks, database operations, async functions)

• Displays a gentle self-check reminder

• "Did you add error handling? Are Prisma operations using the repository pattern?"

• Non-blocking, just keeps Claude aware without being annoying

skill-rules.json Configuration

I created a central configuration file that defines every skill with:

• Keywords: Explicit topic matches ("layout", "workflow", "database")

• Intent patterns: Regex to catch actions ("(create|add).*?(feature|route)")

• File path triggers: Activates based on what file you're editing

• Content triggers: Activates if file contains specific patterns (Prisma imports, controllers, etc.)

Example snippet:

{
  "backend-dev-guidelines": {
    "type": "domain",
    "enforcement": "suggest",
    "priority": "high",
    "promptTriggers": {
      "keywords": ["backend", "controller", "service", "API", "endpoint"],
      "intentPatterns": [
        "(create|add).*?(route|endpoint|controller)",
        "(how to|best practice).*?(backend|API)"
      ]
    },
    "fileTriggers": {
      "pathPatterns": ["backend/src/**/*.ts"],
      "contentPatterns": ["router\\.", "export.*Controller"]
    }
  }
}

The Results

Now when I work on backend code, Claude automatically:

1. Sees the skill suggestion before reading my prompt

2. Loads the relevant guidelines

3. Actually follows the patterns consistently

4. Self-checks at the end via gentle reminders

The difference is night and day. No more inconsistent code. No more "wait, Claude used the old pattern again." No more manually telling it to check the guidelines every single time.

Following Anthropic's Best Practices (The Hard Way)

After getting the auto-activation working, I dove deeper and found Anthropic's official best practices docs. Turns out I was doing it wrong because they recommend keeping the main SKILL.md file under 500 lines and using progressive disclosure with resource files.

Whoops. My frontend-dev-guidelines skill was 1,500+ lines. And I had a couple other skills over 1,000 lines. These monolithic files were defeating the whole purpose of skills (loading only what you need).

So I restructured everything:

• frontend-dev-guidelines: 398-line main file + 10 resource files

• backend-dev-guidelines: 304-line main file + 11 resource files

Now Claude loads the lightweight main file initially, and only pulls in detailed resource files when actually needed. Token efficiency improved 40-60% for most queries.

Skills I've Created

Here's my current skill lineup:

Guidelines & Best Practices:

• backend-dev-guidelines - Routes → Controllers → Services → Repositories

• frontend-dev-guidelines - React 19, MUI v7, TanStack Query/Router patterns

• skill-developer - Meta-skill for creating more skills

Domain-Specific:

• workflow-developer - Complex workflow engine patterns

• notification-developer - Email/notification system

• database-verification - Prevent column name errors (this one is a guardrail that actually blocks edits!)

• project-catalog-developer - DataGrid layout system

All of these automatically activate based on what I'm working on. It's like having a senior dev who actually remembers all the patterns looking over Claude's shoulder.

Why This Matters

Before skills + hooks:

• Claude would use old patterns even though I documented new ones

• Had to manually tell Claude to check BEST_PRACTICES.md every time

• Inconsistent code across the 300k+ LOC codebase

• Spent too much time fixing Claude's "creative interpretations"

After skills + hooks:

• Consistent patterns automatically enforced

• Claude self-corrects before I even see the code

• Can trust that guidelines are being followed

• Way less time spent on reviews and fixes

If you're working on a large codebase with established patterns, I cannot recommend this system enough. The initial setup took a couple of days to get right, but it's paid for itself ten times over.

CLAUDE.md and Documentation Evolution

In a post I wrote 6 months ago, I had a section about rules being your best friend, which I still stand by. But my CLAUDE.md file was quickly getting out of hand and was trying to do too much. I also had this massive BEST_PRACTICES.md file (1,400+ lines) that Claude would sometimes read and sometimes completely ignore.

So I took an afternoon with Claude to consolidate and reorganize everything into a new system. Here's what changed:

What Moved to Skills

Previously, BEST_PRACTICES.md contained:

• TypeScript standards

• React patterns (hooks, components, suspense)

• Backend API patterns (routes, controllers, services)

• Error handling (Sentry integration)

• Database patterns (Prisma usage)

• Testing guidelines

• Performance optimization

All of that is now in skills with the auto-activation hook ensuring Claude actually uses them. No more hoping Claude remembers to check BEST_PRACTICES.md.

What Stayed in CLAUDE.md

Now CLAUDE.md is laser-focused on project-specific info (only ~200 lines):

• Quick commands (pnpm pm2:start, pnpm build, etc.)

• Service-specific configuration

• Task management workflow (dev docs system)

• Testing authenticated routes

• Workflow dry-run mode

• Browser tools configuration

The New Structure

Root CLAUDE.md (100 lines)
├── Critical universal rules
├── Points to repo-specific claude.md files
└── References skills for detailed guidelines

Each Repo's claude.md (50-100 lines)
├── Quick Start section pointing to:
│   ├── PROJECT_KNOWLEDGE.md - Architecture & integration
│   ├── TROUBLESHOOTING.md - Common issues
│   └── Auto-generated API docs
└── Repo-specific quirks and commands

The magic: Skills handle all the "how to write code" guidelines, and CLAUDE.md handles "how this specific project works." Separation of concerns for the win.

Dev Docs System

This system, out of everything (besides skills), I think has made the most impact on the results I'm getting out of CC. Claude is like an extremely confident junior dev with extreme amnesia, losing track of what they're doing easily. This system is aimed at solving those shortcomings.

The dev docs section from my CLAUDE.md:

### Starting Large Tasks

When exiting plan mode with an accepted plan: 1.**Create Task Directory**:
mkdir -p ~/git/project/dev/active/[task-name]/

2.**Create Documents**:

- `[task-name]-plan.md` - The accepted plan
- `[task-name]-context.md` - Key files, decisions
- `[task-name]-tasks.md` - Checklist of work

3.**Update Regularly**: Mark tasks complete immediately

### Continuing Tasks

- Check `/dev/active/` for existing tasks
- Read all three files before proceeding
- Update "Last Updated" timestamps

These are documents that always get created for every feature or large task. Before using this system, I had many times when I all of a sudden realized that Claude had lost the plot and we were no longer implementing what we had planned out 30 minutes earlier because we went off on some tangent for whatever reason.

My Planning Process

My process starts with planning. Planning is king. If you aren't at a minimum using planning mode before asking Claude to implement something, you're gonna have a bad time, mmm'kay. You wouldn't have a builder come to your house and start slapping on an addition without having him draw things up first.

When I start planning a feature, I put it into planning mode, even though I will eventually have Claude write the plan down in a markdown file. I'm not sure putting it into planning mode necessary, but to me, it feels like planning mode gets better results doing the research on your codebase and getting all the correct context to be able to put together a plan.

I created a strategic-plan-architect subagent that's basically a planning beast. It:

• Gathers context efficiently

• Analyzes project structure

• Creates comprehensive structured plans with executive summary, phases, tasks, risks, success metrics, timelines

• Generates three files automatically: plan, context, and tasks checklist

But I find it really annoying that you can't see the agent's output, and even more annoying is if you say no to the plan, it just kills the agent instead of continuing to plan. So I also created a custom slash command (/dev-docs) with the same prompt to use on the main CC instance.

Once Claude spits out that beautiful plan, I take time to review it thoroughly. This step is really important. Take time to understand it, and you'd be surprised at how often you catch silly mistakes or Claude misunderstanding a very vital part of the request or task.

More often than not, I'll be at 15% context left or less after exiting plan mode. But that's okay because we're going to put everything we need to start fresh into our dev docs. Claude usually likes to just jump in guns blazing, so I immediately slap the ESC key to interrupt and run my /dev-docs slash command. The command takes the approved plan and creates all three files, sometimes doing a bit more research to fill in gaps if there's enough context left.

And once I'm done with that, I'm pretty much set to have Claude fully implement the feature without getting lost or losing track of what it was doing, even through an auto-compaction. I just make sure to remind Claude every once in a while to update the tasks as well as the context file with any relevant context. And once I'm running low on context in the current session, I just run my slash command /update-dev-docs. Claude will note any relevant context (with next steps) as well as mark any completed tasks or add new tasks before I compact the conversation. And all I need to say is "continue" in the new session.

During implementation, depending on the size of the feature or task, I will specifically tell Claude to only implement one or two sections at a time. That way, I'm getting the chance to go in and review the code in between each set of tasks. And periodically, I have a subagent also reviewing the changes so I can catch big mistakes early on. If you aren't having Claude review its own code, then I highly recommend it because it saved me a lot of headaches catching critical errors, missing implementations, inconsistent code, and security flaws.

PM2 Process Management (Backend Debugging Game Changer)

This one's a relatively recent addition, but it's made debugging backend issues so much easier.

The Problem

My project has seven backend microservices running simultaneously. The issue was that Claude didn't have access to view the logs while services were running. I couldn't just ask "what's going wrong with the email service?" - Claude couldn't see the logs without me manually copying and pasting them into chat.

The Intermediate Solution

For a while, I had each service write its output to a timestamped log file using a devLog script. This worked... okay. Claude could read the log files, but it was clunky. Logs weren't real-time, services wouldn't auto-restart on crashes, and managing everything was a pain.

The Real Solution: PM2

Then I discovered PM2, and it was a game changer. I configured all my backend services to run via PM2 with a single command: pnpm pm2:start

What this gives me:

• Each service runs as a managed process with its own log file

• Claude can easily read individual service logs in real-time

• Automatic restarts on crashes

• Real-time monitoring with pm2 logs

• Memory/CPU monitoring with pm2 monit

• Easy service management (pm2 restart email, pm2 stop all, etc.)

PM2 Configuration:

// ecosystem.config.jsmodule.exports = {
  apps: [
    {
      name: 'form-service',
      script: 'npm',
      args: 'start',
      cwd: './form',
      error_file: './form/logs/error.log',
      out_file: './form/logs/out.log',
    },
// ... 6 more services
  ]
};

Before PM2:

Me: "The email service is throwing errors"
Me: [Manually finds and copies logs]
Me: [Pastes into chat]
Claude: "Let me analyze this..."

The debugging workflow now:

Me: "The email service is throwing errors"
Claude: [Runs] pm2 logs email --lines 200
Claude: [Reads the logs] "I see the issue - database connection timeout..."
Claude: [Runs] pm2 restart email
Claude: "Restarted the service, monitoring for errors..."

Night and day difference. Claude can autonomously debug issues now without me being a human log-fetching service.

One caveat: Hot reload doesn't work with PM2, so I still run the frontend separately with pnpm dev. But for backend services that don't need hot reload as often, PM2 is incredible.

Hooks System (#NoMessLeftBehind)

The project I'm working on is multi-root and has about eight different repos in the root project directory. One for the frontend and seven microservices and utilities for the backend. I'm constantly bouncing around making changes in a couple of repos at a time depending on the feature.

And one thing that would annoy me to no end is when Claude forgets to run the build command in whatever repo it's editing to catch errors. And it will just leave a dozen or so TypeScript errors without me catching it. Then a couple of hours later I see Claude running a build script like a good boy and I see the output: "There are several TypeScript errors, but they are unrelated, so we're all good here!"

No, we are not good, Claude.

Hook #1: File Edit Tracker

First, I created a post-tool-use hook that runs after every Edit/Write/MultiEdit operation. It logs:

• Which files were edited

• What repo they belong to

• Timestamps

Initially, I made it run builds immediately after each edit, but that was stupidly inefficient. Claude makes edits that break things all the time before quickly fixing them.

Hook #2: Build Checker

Then I added a Stop hook that runs when Claude finishes responding. It:

1. Reads the edit logs to find which repos were modified

2. Runs build scripts on each affected repo

3. Checks for TypeScript errors

4. If < 5 errors: Shows them to Claude

5. If ≥ 5 errors: Recommends launching auto-error-resolver agent

6. Logs everything for debugging

Since implementing this system, I've not had a single instance where Claude has left errors in the code for me to find later. The hook catches them immediately, and Claude fixes them before moving on.

Hook #3: Prettier Formatter

This one's simple but effective. After Claude finishes responding, automatically format all edited files with Prettier using the appropriate .prettierrc config for that repo.

No more going into to manually edit a file just to have prettier run and produce 20 changes because Claude decided to leave off trailing commas last week when we created that file.

⚠️ Update: I No Longer Recommend This Hook

After publishing, a reader shared detailed data showing that file modifications trigger <system-reminder> notifications that can consume significant context tokens. In their case, Prettier formatting led to 160k tokens consumed in just 3 rounds due to system-reminders showing file diffs.

While the impact varies by project (large files and strict formatting rules are worst-case scenarios), I'm removing this hook from my setup. It's not a big deal to let formatting happen when you manually edit files anyway, and the potential token cost isn't worth the convenience.

If you want automatic formatting, consider running Prettier manually between sessions instead of during Claude conversations.

Hook #4: Error Handling Reminder

This is the gentle philosophy hook I mentioned earlier:

• Analyzes edited files after Claude finishes

• Detects risky patterns (try-catch, async operations, database calls, controllers)

• Shows a gentle reminder if risky code was written

• Claude self-assesses whether error handling is needed

• No blocking, no friction, just awareness

Example output:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📋 ERROR HANDLING SELF-CHECK
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

⚠️  Backend Changes Detected
   2 file(s) edited

   ❓ Did you add Sentry.captureException() in catch blocks?
   ❓ Are Prisma operations wrapped in error handling?

   💡 Backend Best Practice:
      - All errors should be captured to Sentry
      - Controllers should extend BaseController
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Complete Hook Pipeline

Here's what happens on every Claude response now:

Claude finishes responding
  ↓
Hook 1: Prettier formatter runs → All edited files auto-formatted
  ↓
Hook 2: Build checker runs → TypeScript errors caught immediately
  ↓
Hook 3: Error reminder runs → Gentle self-check for error handling
  ↓
If errors found → Claude sees them and fixes
  ↓
If too many errors → Auto-error-resolver agent recommended
  ↓
Result: Clean, formatted, error-free code

And the UserPromptSubmit hook ensures Claude loads relevant skills BEFORE even starting work.

No mess left behind. It's beautiful.

Scripts Attached to Skills

One really cool pattern I picked up from Anthropic's official skill examples on GitHub: attach utility scripts to skills.

For example, my backend-dev-guidelines skill has a section about testing authenticated routes. Instead of just explaining how authentication works, the skill references an actual script:

### Testing Authenticated Routes

Use the provided test-auth-route.js script:


node scripts/test-auth-route.js http://localhost:3002/api/endpoint

The script handles all the complex authentication steps for you:

1. Gets a refresh token from Keycloak

2. Signs the token with JWT secret

3. Creates cookie header

4. Makes authenticated request

When Claude needs to test a route, it knows exactly what script to use and how to use it. No more "let me create a test script" and reinventing the wheel every time.

I'm planning to expand this pattern - attach more utility scripts to relevant skills so Claude has ready-to-use tools instead of generating them from scratch.

Tools and Other Things

SuperWhisper on Mac

Voice-to-text for prompting when my hands are tired from typing. Works surprisingly well, and Claude understands my rambling voice-to-text surprisingly well.

Memory MCP

I use this less over time now that skills handle most of the "remembering patterns" work. But it's still useful for tracking project-specific decisions and architectural choices that don't belong in skills.

BetterTouchTool

• Relative URL copy from Cursor (for sharing code references)

  • I have VSCode open to more easily find the files I’m looking for and I can double tap CAPS-LOCK, then BTT inputs the shortcut to copy relative URL, transforms the clipboard contents by prepending an ‘@’ symbol, focuses the terminal, and then pastes the file path. All in one.

• Double-tap hotkeys to quickly focus apps (CMD+CMD = Claude Code, OPT+OPT = Browser)

• Custom gestures for common actions

Honestly, the time savings on just not fumbling between apps is worth the BTT purchase alone.

Scripts for Everything

If there's any annoying tedious task, chances are there's a script for that:

• Command-line tool to generate mock test data. Before using Claude code, it was extremely annoying to generate mock data because I would have to make a submission to a form that had about a 120 questions Just to generate one single test submission.

• Authentication testing scripts (get tokens, test routes)

• Database resetting and seeding

• Schema diff checker before migrations

• Automated backup and restore for dev database

Pro tip: When Claude helps you write a useful script, immediately document it in CLAUDE.md or attach it to a relevant skill. Future you will thank past you.

Documentation (Still Important, But Evolved)

I think next to planning, documentation is almost just as important. I document everything as I go in addition to the dev docs that are created for each task or feature. From system architecture to data flow diagrams to actual developer docs and APIs, just to name a few.

But here's what changed: Documentation now works WITH skills, not instead of them.

Skills contain: Reusable patterns, best practices, how-to guides Documentation contains: System architecture, data flows, API references, integration points

For example:

• "How to create a controller" → backend-dev-guidelines skill

• "How our workflow engine works" → Architecture documentation

• "How to write React components" → frontend-dev-guidelines skill

• "How notifications flow through the system" → Data flow diagram + notification skill

I still have a LOT of docs (850+ markdown files), but now they're laser-focused on project-specific architecture rather than repeating general best practices that are better served by skills.

You don't necessarily have to go that crazy, but I highly recommend setting up multiple levels of documentation. Ones for broad architectural overview of specific services, wherein you'll include paths to other documentation that goes into more specifics of different parts of the architecture. It will make a major difference on Claude's ability to easily navigate your codebase.

Prompt Tips

When you're writing out your prompt, you should try to be as specific as possible about what you are wanting as a result. Once again, you wouldn't ask a builder to come out and build you a new bathroom without at least discussing plans, right?

"You're absolutely right! Shag carpet probably is not the best idea to have in a bathroom."

Sometimes you might not know the specifics, and that's okay. If you don't ask questions, tell Claude to research and come back with several potential solutions. You could even use a specialized subagent or use any other AI chat interface to do your research. The world is your oyster. I promise you this will pay dividends because you will be able to look at the plan that Claude has produced and have a better idea if it's good, bad, or needs adjustments. Otherwise, you're just flying blind, pure vibe-coding. Then you're gonna end up in a situation where you don't even know what context to include because you don't know what files are related to the thing you're trying to fix.

Try not to lead in your prompts if you want honest, unbiased feedback. If you're unsure about something Claude did, ask about it in a neutral way instead of saying, "Is this good or bad?" Claude tends to tell you what it thinks you want to hear, so leading questions can skew the response. It's better to just describe the situation and ask for thoughts or alternatives. That way, you'll get a more balanced answer.

Agents, Hooks, and Slash Commands (The Holy Trinity)

Agents

I've built a small army of specialized agents:

Quality Control:

• code-architecture-reviewer - Reviews code for best practices adherence

• build-error-resolver - Systematically fixes TypeScript errors

• refactor-planner - Creates comprehensive refactoring plans

Testing & Debugging:

• auth-route-tester - Tests backend routes with authentication

• auth-route-debugger - Debugs 401/403 errors and route issues

• frontend-error-fixer - Diagnoses and fixes frontend errors

Planning & Strategy:

• strategic-plan-architect - Creates detailed implementation plans

• plan-reviewer - Reviews plans before implementation

• documentation-architect - Creates/updates documentation

Specialized:

• frontend-ux-designer - Fixes styling and UX issues

• web-research-specialist - Researches issues along with many other things on the web

• reactour-walkthrough-designer - Creates UI tours

The key with agents is to give them very specific roles and clear instructions on what to return. I learned this the hard way after creating agents that would go off and do who-knows-what and come back with "I fixed it!" without telling me what they fixed.

Hooks (Covered Above)

The hook system is honestly what ties everything together. Without hooks:

• Skills sit unused

• Errors slip through

• Code is inconsistently formatted

• No automatic quality checks

With hooks:

• Skills auto-activate

• Zero errors left behind

• Automatic formatting

• Quality awareness built-in

Slash Commands

I have quite a few custom slash commands, but these are the ones I use most:

Planning & Docs:

• /dev-docs - Create comprehensive strategic plan

• /dev-docs-update - Update dev docs before compaction

• /create-dev-docs - Convert approved plan to dev doc files

Quality & Review:

• /code-review - Architectural code review

• /build-and-fix - Run builds and fix all errors

Testing:

• /route-research-for-testing - Find affected routes and launch tests

• /test-route - Test specific authenticated routes

The beauty of slash commands is they expand into full prompts, so you can pack a ton of context and instructions into a simple command. Way better than typing out the same instructions every time.

Conclusion

After six months of hardcore use, here's what I've learned:

The Essentials:

1. Plan everything - Use planning mode or strategic-plan-architect

2. Skills + Hooks - Auto-activation is the only way skills actually work reliably

3. Dev docs system - Prevents Claude from losing the plot

4. Code reviews - Have Claude review its own work

5. PM2 for backend - Makes debugging actually bearable

The Nice-to-Haves:

• Specialized agents for common tasks

• Slash commands for repeated workflows

• Comprehensive documentation

• Utility scripts attached to skills

• Memory MCP for decisions

And that's about all I can think of for now. Like I said, I'm just some guy, and I would love to hear tips and tricks from everybody else, as well as any criticisms. Because I'm always up for improving upon my workflow. I honestly just wanted to share what's working for me with other people since I don't really have anybody else to share this with IRL (my team is very small, and they are all very slow getting on the AI train).

If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read. If you have questions about any of this stuff or want more details on implementation, happy to share. The hooks and skills system especially took some trial and error to get right, but now that it's working, I can't imagine going back.

TL;DR: Built an auto-activation system for Claude Code skills using TypeScript hooks, created a dev docs workflow to prevent context loss, and implemented PM2 + automated error checking. Result: Solo rewrote 300k LOC in 6 months with consistent quality.