Best Practices for Claude Code - Claude Code Docs

Claude Code is an agentic coding environment. Unlike a chatbot that answers questions and waits, Claude Code can read your files, run commands, make changes, and autonomously work through problems while you watch, redirect, or step away entirely. This changes how you work. Instead of writing code yourself and asking Claude to review it, you describe what you want and Claude figures out how to build it. Claude explores, plans, and implements. But this autonomy still comes with a learning curve. Claude works within certain constraints you need to understand. This guide covers patterns that have proven effective across Anthropic’s internal teams and for engineers using Claude Code across various codebases, languages, and environments. For how the agentic loop works under the hood, see How Claude Code works.

Most best practices are based on one constraint: Claude’s context window fills up fast, and performance degrades as it fills. Claude’s context window holds your entire conversation, including every message, every file Claude reads, and every command output. However, this can fill up fast. A single debugging session or codebase exploration might generate and consume tens of thousands of tokens. This matters since LLM performance degrades as context fills. When the context window is getting full, Claude may start “forgetting” earlier instructions or making more mistakes. The context window is the most important resource to manage. Track context usage continuously with a custom status line, and see Reduce token usage for strategies on reducing token usage.

Give Claude a way to verify its work

Claude performs dramatically better when it can verify its own work, like run tests, compare screenshots, and validate outputs. Without clear success criteria, it might produce something that looks right but actually doesn’t work. You become the only feedback loop, and every mistake requires your attention.

UI changes can be verified using the Claude in Chrome extension. It opens new tabs in your browser, tests the UI, and iterates until the code works. Your verification can also be a test suite, a linter, or a Bash command that checks output. Invest in making your verification rock-solid.

Explore first, then plan, then code

Letting Claude jump straight to coding can produce code that solves the wrong problem. Use Plan Mode to separate exploration from execution. The recommended workflow has four phases:

Provide specific context in your prompts

Claude can infer intent, but it can’t read your mind. Reference specific files, mention constraints, and point to example patterns.

Vague prompts can be useful when you’re exploring and can afford to course-correct. A prompt like "what would you improve in this file?" can surface things you wouldn’t have thought to ask about.

Provide rich content

You can provide rich data to Claude in several ways:

• Reference files with @ instead of describing where code lives. Claude reads the file before responding.
• Paste images directly. Copy/paste or drag and drop images into the prompt.
• Give URLs for documentation and API references. Use /permissions to allowlist frequently-used domains.
• Pipe in data by running cat error.log | claude to send file contents directly.
• Let Claude fetch what it needs. Tell Claude to pull context itself using Bash commands, MCP tools, or by reading files.

Configure your environment

A few setup steps make Claude Code significantly more effective across all your sessions. For a full overview of extension features and when to use each one, see Extend Claude Code.

Write an effective CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md is a special file that Claude reads at the start of every conversation. Include Bash commands, code style, and workflow rules. This gives Claude persistent context it can’t infer from code alone. The /init command analyzes your codebase to detect build systems, test frameworks, and code patterns, giving you a solid foundation to refine. There’s no required format for CLAUDE.md files, but keep it short and human-readable. For example:

# Code style
- Use ES modules (import/export) syntax, not CommonJS (require)
- Destructure imports when possible (eg. import { foo } from 'bar')

# Workflow
- Be sure to typecheck when you're done making a series of code changes
- Prefer running single tests, and not the whole test suite, for performance

CLAUDE.md is loaded every session, so only include things that apply broadly. For domain knowledge or workflows that are only relevant sometimes, use skills instead. Claude loads them on demand without bloating every conversation. Keep it concise. For each line, ask: “Would removing this cause Claude to make mistakes?” If not, cut it. Bloated CLAUDE.md files cause Claude to ignore your actual instructions!

If Claude keeps doing something you don’t want despite having a rule against it, the file is probably too long and the rule is getting lost. If Claude asks you questions that are answered in CLAUDE.md, the phrasing might be ambiguous. Treat CLAUDE.md like code: review it when things go wrong, prune it regularly, and test changes by observing whether Claude’s behavior actually shifts. You can tune instructions by adding emphasis (e.g., “IMPORTANT” or “YOU MUST”) to improve adherence. Check CLAUDE.md into git so your team can contribute. The file compounds in value over time. CLAUDE.md files can import additional files using @path/to/import syntax:

See @README.md for project overview and @package.json for available npm commands.

# Additional Instructions
- Git workflow: @docs/git-instructions.md
- Personal overrides: @~/.claude/my-project-instructions.md

You can place CLAUDE.md files in several locations:

• Home folder (~/.claude/CLAUDE.md): applies to all Claude sessions
• Project root (./CLAUDE.md): check into git to share with your team
• Parent directories: useful for monorepos where both root/CLAUDE.md and root/foo/CLAUDE.md are pulled in automatically
• Child directories: Claude pulls in child CLAUDE.md files on demand when working with files in those directories

Configure permissions

By default, Claude Code requests permission for actions that might modify your system: file writes, Bash commands, MCP tools, etc. This is safe but tedious. After the tenth approval you’re not really reviewing anymore, you’re just clicking through. There are three ways to reduce these interruptions:

• Auto mode: a separate classifier model reviews commands and blocks only what looks risky: scope escalation, unknown infrastructure, or hostile-content-driven actions. Best when you trust the general direction of a task but don’t want to click through every step
• Permission allowlists: permit specific tools you know are safe, like npm run lint or git commit
• Sandboxing: enable OS-level isolation that restricts filesystem and network access, allowing Claude to work more freely within defined boundaries

Read more about permission modes, permission rules, and sandboxing.

Use CLI tools

CLI tools are the most context-efficient way to interact with external services. If you use GitHub, install the gh CLI. Claude knows how to use it for creating issues, opening pull requests, and reading comments. Without gh, Claude can still use the GitHub API, but unauthenticated requests often hit rate limits. Claude is also effective at learning CLI tools it doesn’t already know. Try prompts like Use 'foo-cli-tool --help' to learn about foo tool, then use it to solve A, B, C.

Connect MCP servers

With MCP servers, you can ask Claude to implement features from issue trackers, query databases, analyze monitoring data, integrate designs from Figma, and automate workflows.

Set up hooks

Hooks run scripts automatically at specific points in Claude’s workflow. Unlike CLAUDE.md instructions which are advisory, hooks are deterministic and guarantee the action happens. Claude can write hooks for you. Try prompts like “Write a hook that runs eslint after every file edit” or “Write a hook that blocks writes to the migrations folder.” Edit .claude/settings.json directly to configure hooks by hand, and run /hooks to browse what’s configured.

Create skills

Skills extend Claude’s knowledge with information specific to your project, team, or domain. Claude applies them automatically when relevant, or you can invoke them directly with /skill-name. Create a skill by adding a directory with a SKILL.md to .claude/skills/:

---
name: api-conventions
description: REST API design conventions for our services
---
# API Conventions
- Use kebab-case for URL paths
- Use camelCase for JSON properties
- Always include pagination for list endpoints
- Version APIs in the URL path (/v1/, /v2/)

Skills can also define repeatable workflows you invoke directly:

---
name: fix-issue
description: Fix a GitHub issue
disable-model-invocation: true
---
Analyze and fix the GitHub issue: $ARGUMENTS.

1. Use `gh issue view` to get the issue details
2. Understand the problem described in the issue
3. Search the codebase for relevant files
4. Implement the necessary changes to fix the issue
5. Write and run tests to verify the fix
6. Ensure code passes linting and type checking
7. Create a descriptive commit message
8. Push and create a PR

Run /fix-issue 1234 to invoke it. Use disable-model-invocation: true for workflows with side effects that you want to trigger manually.

Create custom subagents

Subagents run in their own context with their own set of allowed tools. They’re useful for tasks that read many files or need specialized focus without cluttering your main conversation.

---
name: security-reviewer
description: Reviews code for security vulnerabilities
tools: Read, Grep, Glob, Bash
model: opus
---
You are a senior security engineer. Review code for:
- Injection vulnerabilities (SQL, XSS, command injection)
- Authentication and authorization flaws
- Secrets or credentials in code
- Insecure data handling

Provide specific line references and suggested fixes.

Tell Claude to use subagents explicitly: “Use a subagent to review this code for security issues.”

Install plugins

Plugins bundle skills, hooks, subagents, and MCP servers into a single installable unit from the community and Anthropic. If you work with a typed language, install a code intelligence plugin to give Claude precise symbol navigation and automatic error detection after edits. For guidance on choosing between skills, subagents, hooks, and MCP, see Extend Claude Code.

Communicate effectively

The way you communicate with Claude Code significantly impacts the quality of results.

Ask codebase questions

When onboarding to a new codebase, use Claude Code for learning and exploration. You can ask Claude the same sorts of questions you would ask another engineer:

• How does logging work?
• How do I make a new API endpoint?
• What does async move { ... } do on line 134 of foo.rs?
• What edge cases does CustomerOnboardingFlowImpl handle?
• Why does this code call foo() instead of bar() on line 333?

Using Claude Code this way is an effective onboarding workflow, improving ramp-up time and reducing load on other engineers. No special prompting required: ask questions directly.

Let Claude interview you

Claude asks about things you might not have considered yet, including technical implementation, UI/UX, edge cases, and tradeoffs.

I want to build [brief description]. Interview me in detail using the AskUserQuestion tool.

Ask about technical implementation, UI/UX, edge cases, concerns, and tradeoffs. Don't ask obvious questions, dig into the hard parts I might not have considered.

Keep interviewing until we've covered everything, then write a complete spec to SPEC.md.

Once the spec is complete, start a fresh session to execute it. The new session has clean context focused entirely on implementation, and you have a written spec to reference.

Manage your session

Conversations are persistent and reversible. Use this to your advantage!

Course-correct early and often

The best results come from tight feedback loops. Though Claude occasionally solves problems perfectly on the first attempt, correcting it quickly generally produces better solutions faster.

• Esc: stop Claude mid-action with the Esc key. Context is preserved, so you can redirect.
• Esc + Esc or /rewind: press Esc twice or run /rewind to open the rewind menu and restore previous conversation and code state, or summarize from a selected message.
• "Undo that": have Claude revert its changes.
• /clear: reset context between unrelated tasks. Long sessions with irrelevant context can reduce performance.

If you’ve corrected Claude more than twice on the same issue in one session, the context is cluttered with failed approaches. Run /clear and start fresh with a more specific prompt that incorporates what you learned. A clean session with a better prompt almost always outperforms a long session with accumulated corrections.

Manage context aggressively

Claude Code automatically compacts conversation history when you approach context limits, which preserves important code and decisions while freeing space. During long sessions, Claude’s context window can fill with irrelevant conversation, file contents, and commands. This can reduce performance and sometimes distract Claude.

• Use /clear frequently between tasks to reset the context window entirely
• When auto compaction triggers, Claude summarizes what matters most, including code patterns, file states, and key decisions
• For more control, run /compact <instructions>, like /compact Focus on the API changes
• To compact only part of the conversation, use Esc + Esc or /rewind, select a message checkpoint, and choose Summarize from here. This condenses messages from that point forward while keeping earlier context intact.
• Customize compaction behavior in CLAUDE.md with instructions like "When compacting, always preserve the full list of modified files and any test commands" to ensure critical context survives summarization
• For quick questions that don’t need to stay in context, use /btw. The answer appears in a dismissible overlay and never enters conversation history, so you can check a detail without growing context.

Use subagents for investigation

Since context is your fundamental constraint, subagents are one of the most powerful tools available. When Claude researches a codebase it reads lots of files, all of which consume your context. Subagents run in separate context windows and report back summaries:

Use subagents to investigate how our authentication system handles token
refresh, and whether we have any existing OAuth utilities I should reuse.

The subagent explores the codebase, reads relevant files, and reports back with findings, all without cluttering your main conversation. You can also use subagents for verification after Claude implements something:

use a subagent to review this code for edge cases

Rewind with checkpoints

Claude automatically checkpoints before changes. Double-tap Escape or run /rewind to open the rewind menu. You can restore conversation only, restore code only, restore both, or summarize from a selected message. See Checkpointing for details. Instead of carefully planning every move, you can tell Claude to try something risky. If it doesn’t work, rewind and try a different approach. Checkpoints persist across sessions, so you can close your terminal and still rewind later.

Resume conversations

Claude Code saves conversations locally. When a task spans multiple sessions, you don’t have to re-explain the context:

claude --continue    # Resume the most recent conversation
claude --resume      # Select from recent conversations

Use /rename to give sessions descriptive names like "oauth-migration" or "debugging-memory-leak" so you can find them later. Treat sessions like branches: different workstreams can have separate, persistent contexts.

Automate and scale

Once you’re effective with one Claude, multiply your output with parallel sessions, non-interactive mode, and fan-out patterns. Everything so far assumes one human, one Claude, and one conversation. But Claude Code scales horizontally. The techniques in this section show how you can get more done.

Run non-interactive mode

With claude -p "your prompt", you can run Claude non-interactively, without a session. Non-interactive mode is how you integrate Claude into CI pipelines, pre-commit hooks, or any automated workflow. The output formats let you parse results programmatically: plain text, JSON, or streaming JSON.

# One-off queries
claude -p "Explain what this project does"

# Structured output for scripts
claude -p "List all API endpoints" --output-format json

# Streaming for real-time processing
claude -p "Analyze this log file" --output-format stream-json

Run multiple Claude sessions

There are three main ways to run parallel sessions:

• Claude Code desktop app: Manage multiple local sessions visually. Each session gets its own isolated worktree.
• Claude Code on the web: Run on Anthropic’s secure cloud infrastructure in isolated VMs.
• Agent teams: Automated coordination of multiple sessions with shared tasks, messaging, and a team lead.

Beyond parallelizing work, multiple sessions enable quality-focused workflows. A fresh context improves code review since Claude won’t be biased toward code it just wrote. For example, use a Writer/Reviewer pattern:

You can do something similar with tests: have one Claude write tests, then another write code to pass them.

Fan out across files

For large migrations or analyses, you can distribute work across many parallel Claude invocations:

You can also integrate Claude into existing data/processing pipelines:

claude -p "<your prompt>" --output-format json | your_command

Use --verbose for debugging during development, and turn it off in production.

Run autonomously with auto mode

For uninterrupted execution with background safety checks, use auto mode. A classifier model reviews commands before they run, blocking scope escalation, unknown infrastructure, and hostile-content-driven actions while letting routine work proceed without prompts.

claude --permission-mode auto -p "fix all lint errors"

For non-interactive runs with the -p flag, auto mode aborts if the classifier repeatedly blocks actions, since there is no user to fall back to. See when auto mode falls back for thresholds.

Avoid common failure patterns

These are common mistakes. Recognizing them early saves time:

• The kitchen sink session. You start with one task, then ask Claude something unrelated, then go back to the first task. Context is full of irrelevant information.

  Fix: /clear between unrelated tasks.

• Correcting over and over. Claude does something wrong, you correct it, it’s still wrong, you correct again. Context is polluted with failed approaches.

  Fix: After two failed corrections, /clear and write a better initial prompt incorporating what you learned.

• The over-specified CLAUDE.md. If your CLAUDE.md is too long, Claude ignores half of it because important rules get lost in the noise.

  Fix: Ruthlessly prune. If Claude already does something correctly without the instruction, delete it or convert it to a hook.

• The trust-then-verify gap. Claude produces a plausible-looking implementation that doesn’t handle edge cases.

  Fix: Always provide verification (tests, scripts, screenshots). If you can’t verify it, don’t ship it.

• The infinite exploration. You ask Claude to “investigate” something without scoping it. Claude reads hundreds of files, filling the context.

  Fix: Scope investigations narrowly or use subagents so the exploration doesn’t consume your main context.

Develop your intuition

The patterns in this guide aren’t set in stone. They’re starting points that work well in general, but might not be optimal for every situation. Sometimes you should let context accumulate because you’re deep in one complex problem and the history is valuable. Sometimes you should skip planning and let Claude figure it out because the task is exploratory. Sometimes a vague prompt is exactly right because you want to see how Claude interprets the problem before constraining it. Pay attention to what works. When Claude produces great output, notice what you did: the prompt structure, the context you provided, the mode you were in. When Claude struggles, ask why. Was the context too noisy? The prompt too vague? The task too big for one pass? Over time, you’ll develop intuition that no guide can capture. You’ll know when to be specific and when to be open-ended, when to plan and when to explore, when to clear context and when to let it accumulate.

• How Claude Code works: the agentic loop, tools, and context management
• Extend Claude Code: skills, hooks, MCP, subagents, and plugins
• Common workflows: step-by-step recipes for debugging, testing, PRs, and more
• CLAUDE.md: store project conventions and persistent context