Context-Minimalist Workflow
A deliberately tiny CLAUDE.md (under 50 lines) paired with aggressive /clear usage, plan mode, and letting the codebase speak for itself.
Description
Research shows that LLMs are in-context learners — if your codebase follows consistent patterns, Claude will pick them up from a few file reads without being told. This pattern takes that insight to the extreme: CLAUDE.md contains only build/test commands, critical gotchas, and things Claude consistently gets wrong. Everything else is discovered at runtime. Use /init to bootstrap, then delete everything Claude could infer. Run /clear between tasks to reset context. Use plan mode for complex changes. The HumanLayer team runs 60 lines and still sees inconsistent adherence. The lesson: fewer, higher-signal instructions beat comprehensive documentation. Never send an LLM to do a linter's job.
Who is this for
Experienced developers who prefer Claude to learn from their code rather than from instruction files. Best for well-structured codebases with consistent patterns.
Why files are split this way
Context window tokens are a finite resource. Claude Code's system prompt uses ~50 instructions. Each instruction you add dilutes all others uniformly — the model does not just ignore new ones, it begins to follow everything worse. A minimalist CLAUDE.md preserves instruction-following quality for the rules that actually matter.
What changed from the previous setup
A long, comprehensive CLAUDE.md that Claude increasingly ignored as instruction count grew.
Related patterns
Universal AGENT.md with Symlinks
One AGENT.md file as the single source of truth, with symlinks to CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, .windsurfrules, and copilot-instructions.md.
Spec-Driven AI Development
Separates what to build (SPEC.md) from how the AI should work (CLAUDE.md). Specs define features and constraints, CLAUDE.md defines workflow and conventions.
Multi-Editor Frontend Setup
Frontend-optimized AI config covering design system tokens, component conventions, and testing patterns across Cursor, Copilot, and Claude Code simultaneously.