Claude Code Best Practices

Based on the official Anthropic documentation at https://code.claude.com/docs/en/best-practices.

The single most important constraint: Claude's context window fills up fast, and performance degrades as it fills. Every best practice flows from this.

Instructions

Step 1: Always give Claude a way to verify its work

Provide a runnable check (test suite, build exit code, linter, diff script) so Claude can confirm success independently. Ask for evidence (test output, command result), not just assertions.

Step 2: Use the Explore → Plan → Implement workflow for non-trivial tasks