Daily Workflow

The pattern

Every session follows the same loop:

open project → start Claude → describe task → review output → commit → repeat

Keep tasks small. One thing at a time works better than asking Claude to “refactor the whole auth system” in one go.

Describe tasks clearly

Claude works best when you tell it exactly what to touch and what to leave alone. Three habits that help:

1. Name the file. Instead of “fix the login bug”, say “look at src/auth/login.js — the validateToken function returns true when the token is expired.”

2. Say what you want, not just what’s wrong. “Add input validation to the createUser function in src/api/users.js” is more useful than “the form doesn’t validate input.”

3. Say what to leave alone. “Only change the renderCard function — don’t touch the styles” prevents Claude from making changes you didn’t ask for.

Reset between tasks

After finishing one task, clear the conversation before starting the next:

/clear

This resets Claude’s context so it doesn’t confuse the previous task with the new one. Think of it as starting a fresh conversation while staying in the same session.

✗ No /clear between tasks

Context from task 1 bleeds into task 2. Claude may apply old assumptions, conflate work, or touch files from the previous task.

✓ /clear between tasks

Each task starts clean. Claude only knows what you tell it — no residue from previous work.

⚡ Why this works: /clear is free. The cost of skipping it is Claude applying stale context to new work — which usually means more correction rounds.

Stop and commit often

Don’t let Claude make five changes before you review the first one. A good rhythm:

1. Give Claude one task
2. Review what it changed (use Ctrl+Shift+G in VS Code to see the diff)
3. If it looks right, commit
4. Then move to the next task

Small commits mean small problems. If Claude makes a mistake, git restore . gets you back in seconds.