Discussion
I continue to use Claude Sonnet + Opus as the coding agents for my side projects but the inability to follow instructions is becoming a real pain.
I regularly have to deal with Claude deciding to ignore my instructions and make the app worse. Are there techniques or other models I should be using?
@carnage4life I find the agents stay on track better using the obra superpowers set of skills. You build a spec, then a detailed plan, then do TDD with sub agents. Opus 5.5 is the best model currently.
@carnage4life The trick I use is to just code things by myself without ever considering the hallucination machine.
@carnage4life while there is always dangers to anthropomorphizing, I do find treating Claude like a very bright but junior dev is effective.
Reduce the number of rules, and make them simpler.
Don’t rely on repetition or emphasis (besides typical MUST *when you mean it*). In short, don’t “berate” the model. Focus on being clear and consistent.
Move rule enforcement to a separate review stage rather than trying to do it all in a single context. One technique: Add checklists to commit template.