Claude Code Best Practices for Prompting and Context
To get the most out of Claude Code, use structured prompts, manage your context window carefully, and apply its agentic features strategically. Break complex tasks into smaller focused prompts instead of doing everything at once, which makes outputs more reliable and easier to review. Keep your root CLAUDE.md file concise, set it up in specific directories for local rules, and use plan mode or custom skills to handle advanced workflows.
Claude Code Best Practices for Context and Workflows
Treat Claude as a capable but context-limited junior developer by managing its context carefully and planning tasks before implementation. Keep your CLAUDE.md files short, ideally under 200 lines, focusing only on tech stacks, conventions, and domain rules Claude cannot infer on its own. Use MEMORY.md files and the /compact command to retain knowledge across sessions and compress context when responses degrade. Always use plan mode for complex tasks, break work into small incremental steps, and let Claude fix its own bugs to improve its understanding of your codebase. Use subagents to keep the main context window clean, and route mechanical tasks to cheaper models to save tokens.