4 Claude
Power Moves
(Stop Correcting)

Think First, Build Second

Make It Show You The Plan

In Claude Code, plan mode is a setting where Claude is not allowed to touch your project. Instead, it reads what it needs, thinks through the whole approach, asks you questions, and hands you a full written plan before it changes a single thing. You approve the plan, then it executes.

Turn it on by pressing Shift + Tab to cycle the mode (you will see it switch to "plan mode"), or just type "Stay in plan mode and do not make any changes yet. Walk me through your full approach first." If you get the plan right up front, you stop correcting everything later, because the mistakes get caught on paper instead of in your actual files.

Kill The Guesswork

The 95% Rule

Half the time Claude builds the wrong thing, it is because it filled a gap you left with a guess. So take the guessing away. Add this line to almost any request: "Ask me questions until you are 95% sure exactly what I need. Do not assume anything."

That one sentence flips the dynamic. Instead of charging ahead, Claude surfaces the decisions you should be making: which file, which style, what happens in the edge case. You answer a few quick questions up front, and you delete entire rounds of "no, not like that." It happens a bit on its own in plan mode, but saying it out loud makes it reliable.

Once You're Aligned

Turn On Bypass Permissions

Here is the part that actually saves the hours. Once you have a plan you both agree on and Claude is just executing, you do not need to approve every single step. Turn on bypass permissions and it runs the whole task start to finish without stopping to ask permission for each command.

This works precisely because you did Moves 1 and 2 first. You are not letting it run wild on a vague request, you are letting it execute a plan you already approved. That is the difference between reckless and efficient.

Get Smarter Every Session

Keep A Living Instruction File

Your CLAUDE.md is the file Claude reads at the start of every session to understand your project, your preferences, and how you work. The better it is, the less you have to explain, ever. This is the move that compounds.

Make it a habit: any time you teach Claude something, correct a recurring mistake, or agree on a new way of doing things, say "add that to CLAUDE.md so you remember next time." Each session it starts smarter than the last. One rule though, keep it under about 200 lines. It loads into context every time, so a bloated file quietly eats your tokens. When you add something new, delete something old or irrelevant.

Paste this to kick off any task

I want to delegate this task to you properly, not babysit it. Here is what I want:

[describe what you want, even roughly, e.g. "a simple landing page for my dog
grooming business with a booking button, my hours, and a gallery of before/afters"]

Before you build anything, do this:

1. Stay in plan mode. Do not change or create any files yet.

2. Ask me questions until you are 95% sure exactly what I want. Do not assume
   anything. Ask about the parts where you would otherwise have to guess:
   look and feel, the must-have pieces, anything I did not mention, and what
   "done and good" looks like to me. Ask them a few at a time and wait for my
   answers.

3. Once you have my answers, show me a clear, step-by-step plan of how you will
   do it, including anything you are unsure about. Wait for me to approve it.

4. After I approve, execute the whole plan. If you hit a real fork in the road
   you did not plan for, pause and ask. Otherwise keep going to the finish.

5. If at any point I tell you you are off track, stop immediately and re-align.
   Do not finish the wrong version first.

Start by asking me your questions.