The author discovered plan mode in cursor.

I agree with most of this, though I'm not sure it's radically different. I think most people who've been using CC in earnest for a while probably have a similar workflow? Prior to Claude 4 it was pretty much mandatory to define requirements and track implementation manually to manage context. It's still good, but since 4.5 release, it feels less important. CC basically works like this by default now, so unless you value the spec docs (still a good reference for Claude, but need to be maintained), you don't have to think too hard about it anymore.

The important thing is to have a conversation with Claude during the planning phase and don't just say "add this feature" and take what you get. Have a back and forth, ask questions about common patterns, best practices, performance implications, security requirements, project alignment, etc. This is a learning opportunity for you and Claude. When you think you're done, request a final review to analyze for gaps or areas of improvement. Claude will always find something, but starts to get into the weeds after a couple passes.

If you're greenfield and you have preferences about structure and style, you need to be explicit about that. Once the scaffolding is there, modern Claude will typically follow whatever examples it finds in the existing code base.

I'm not sure I agree with the "implement it all without stopping" approach and let auto-compact do its thing. I still see Claude get lazy when nearing compaction, though has gotten drastically better over the last year. Even so, I still think it's better to work in a tight loop on each stage of the implementation and preemptively compacting or restarting for the highest quality.

Not sure that the language is that important anymore either. Claude will explore existing codebase on its own at unknown resolution, but if you say "read the file" it works pretty well these days.

My suggestions to enhance this workflow:

- If you use a numbered phase/stage/task approach with checkboxes, it makes it easy to stop/resume as-needed, and discuss particular sections. Each phase should be working/testable software.

- Define a clear numbered list workflow in CLAUDE.md that loops on each task (run checks, fix issues, provide summary, etc).

- Use hooks to ensure the loop is followed.

- Update spec docs at the end of the cycle if you're keeping them. It's not uncommon for there to be some divergence during implementation and testing.

I do the same. I also cross-ask gemini and claude about the plan during iterations, sometimes make several separate plans.

Doesn’t Claude code do this by switching between edit mode and plan mode?

FWIW I have had significant improvements by clearing context then implementing the plan. Seems like it stops Claude getting hung up on something.

The post and comments all read like: Here are my rituals to the software God. If you follow them then God gives plenty. Omit one step and the God mad. Sometimes you have to make a sacrifice but that's better for the long term.

I've been in eng for decades but never participated in forums. Is the cargo cult new?

I use Claude Code a lot. Still don't trust what's in the plan will get actually written, regardless of details. My ritual is around stronger guardrails outside of prompting. This is the new MongoDB webscale meme.

All sounds like a bespoke way of remaking https://github.com/Fission-AI/OpenSpec

I have tried using this and other workflows for a long time and had never been able to get them to work (see chat history for details).

This has changed in the last week, for 3 reasons:

1. Claude opus. It’s the first model where I haven’t had to spend more time correcting things than it would’ve taken me to just do it myself. The problem is that opus chews through tokens, which led to..

2. I upgraded my Claude plan. Previously on the regular plan I’d get about 20 mins of time before running out of tokens for the session and then needing to wait a few hours to use again. It was fine for little scripts or toy apps but not feasible for the regular dev work I do. So I upgraded to 5x. This now got me 1-2 hours per session before tokens expired. Which was better but still a frustration. Wincing at the price, I upgraded again to the 20x plan and this was the next game changer. I had plenty of spare tokens per session and at that price it felt like they were being wasted - so I ramped up my usage. Following a similar process as OP but with a plans directory with subdirectories for backlog, active and complete plans, and skills with strict rules for planning, implementing and completing plans, I now have 5-6 projects on the go. While I’m planning a feature on one the others are implementing. The strict plans and controls keep them on track and I have follow up skills for auditing quality and performance. I still haven’t hit token limits for a session but I’ve almost hit my token limit for the week so I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth. In that sense spending more has forced me to figure out how to use more.

3. The final piece of the puzzle is using opencode over claude code. I’m not sure why but I just don’t gel with Claude code. Maybe it’s all the sautéing and flibertygibbering, maybe it’s all the permission asking, maybe it’s that it doesn’t show what it’s doing as much as opencode. Whatever it is it just doesn’t work well for me. Opencode on the other hand is great. It’s shows what it’s doing and how it’s thinking which makes it easy for me to spot when it’s going off track and correct early.

Having a detailed plan, and correcting and iterating on the plan is essential. Making clause follow the plan is also essential - but there’s a line. Too fine grained and it’s not as creative at solving problems. Too loose/high level and it makes bad choices and goes in the wrong direction.

Is it actually making me more productive? I think it is but I’m only a week in. I’ve decided to give myself a month to see how it all works out.

I don’t intend to keep paying for the 20x plan unless I can see a path to using it to earn me at least as much back.

I don't really get what is different about this from how almost everyone else uses Claude Code? This is an incredibly common, if not the most common way of using it (and many other tools).

this is literally reinventing claude's planning mode, but with more steps. I think Boris doesn't realize that planning mode is actually stored in a file.

https://x.com/boristane/status/2021628652136673282

There are a few prompt frameworks that essentially codify these types of workflows by adding skills and prompts

https://github.com/obra/superpowers https://github.com/jlevy/tbd