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A free guide by Mariah Brunner ↗ INSTAGRAM ↗ TIKTOK

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The longer your Claude chat runs, the worse it follows your directions, and most people have no idea when it’s happening. Here’s the one-line trick to catch it in real time, plus 10 Claude Code hacks most people don’t know exist.

Nobody tells you this part. As a session fills up, Claude starts slipping on your directions. Your earlier rules get crowded out by everything that came after, and most people never notice. They just feel like Claude "got worse."

There’s a simple trick to catch it in real time. Then I’ll give you the 10 Claude Code hacks I use every day.

The Trick: Make Claude Say Your Name

01

Add one line to CLAUDE.md

Open your CLAUDE.md (run /memory in Claude Code to find it) or your Project instructions in the Claude app. Paste this in with your own name.

CLAUDE.md Context Check
## Context check - Start every single reply with "Mariah," (use my name exactly like that). - If you notice you've lost track of an earlier instruction in this file, tell me in one line that it's time to compact or start a fresh session.

02

Watch for the name to disappear

Now every reply starts with your name. The second it stops, that’s your check-engine light. If Claude dropped a tiny rule like that, your bigger rules are probably slipping too.

When that happens, compact the chat or start a fresh one. My rule of thumb is to compact around the 50% mark so I always get Claude’s best work. Type /context anytime to see how full the session is.

03

Start fresh without losing your place

Before you run /clear, have Claude write a handoff note, then paste it into the new session.

The Fresh-Start Handoff
Before I start a fresh session, write me a handoff note so the next session can pick up exactly where we are. Include: 1. Goal: what we're building or fixing, in 2 sentences. 2. Done so far: the files we changed and what changed in each, as bullets. 3. Decisions: anything we decided and why, including approaches we tried and rejected. 4. Open issues: bugs, failing tests or questions still unresolved. 5. Next 3 steps, in order. 6. Rules I gave you in this chat that aren't in CLAUDE.md yet. Ask me if any should be added there. Keep it under 300 words, as markdown I can paste into a new session. Only include what actually happened in this chat. Don't guess.
10 Hacks I Use Every Day
  1. Use @ to point at one file. Type @src/auth.ts mid-message and Claude pulls in that file instead of searching the whole repo. Sharper answers, fewer tokens.
  2. Plan mode: press Shift+Tab twice. Shift+Tab cycles the modes, and the second press from the default lands on plan. Claude researches and plans without editing your files until you approve. Use it for any change that touches more than one file. (Shortcuts)
  3. Make your own slash commands. A markdown file in .claude/commands/ becomes a command, so ship.md becomes /ship. Commands have now merged into skills, so a folder like .claude/skills/ship/SKILL.md makes the same /ship and can hold extra files too. (Docs)
  4. Build specialist subagents. Put files like code-reviewer.md in .claude/agents/. Each subagent runs in its own context window, so long reviews don’t clutter your main chat, and several can run in parallel. (Subagents)
  5. Pre-approve safe commands. In .claude/settings.json, add allow rules like Bash(npm test) or Bash(npm run *) and those "can I run this?" prompts stop for them. (Permissions)
  6. Hooks for autopilot quality. Hooks in your settings file run on events, like formatting after every edit or pinging you when Claude needs input. Your standards enforce themselves. (Hooks guide)
  7. CLAUDE.md files stack. Put personal preferences in ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md and project rules in the repo’s CLAUDE.md. Claude also reads CLAUDE.md files in the folders above where you launched it, and loads them all together. (Memory docs)
  8. Just say "remember this." Claude saves it to auto memory. Say "add this to CLAUDE.md" when you want it as a permanent rule.
  9. /compact with a focus. Plain /compact summarizes everything. /compact keep the refactor plan, drop the test debugging tells Claude what to keep. Do it before the session fills up. (Commands)
  10. /rewind instead of fighting bad code. If a change made things worse, run /rewind (or press Esc twice on an empty prompt) and roll the code and the chat back to an earlier point.

The Real Win

Most of Claude Code’s power lives in a few files: CLAUDE.md, .claude/skills/, .claude/agents/ and .claude/settings.json. Get one new hack working this week and stack them over time.