Daily Workflow

This page is the reusable version of the tutorials. Read it after Core Session Commands, Your First Feature, and The Six-Step Loop.

The core idea is simple: Claude Code works best when the team uses a calm, explicit loop instead of treating every request like a giant one-shot prompt.

1. Start sessions so you can resume them later

Use a named session when the work may take more than a few minutes:

claude -n "feature-oauth"

Resume recent work with:

claude -c
claude -r "feature-oauth"

Good session names save time later. Rename weak names early:

/rename oauth-feature

2. Explore before asking Claude to edit

For any non-trivial change, start with read-only understanding:

Read the relevant files and explain the current flow.
Do not edit yet. Tell me what matters and what looks risky.

This protects the session from speculative edits and gives you a chance to correct bad assumptions while the context window is still clean.

3. Use the six-step loop for behavior changes

When the task changes behavior, use this rhythm:

1. Explore what exists.
2. Plan the smallest change that can work.
3. RED by creating a failing test, repro, or expected output.
4. GREEN by implementing the smallest change that makes the same check pass.
5. Review with /simplify and, when relevant, /security-review.
6. Ship only after the evidence is clear.

The loop matters most for features, bug fixes, refactors with risk, and anything security-sensitive.

4. Use the lightweight path for trivial edits

Not every task needs the full loop.

For a typo, copy change, or tiny docs fix, it is fine to be direct:

Fix the typo in the release note heading. Keep the diff to that line only.

The rule of thumb is simple: if the overhead of planning and verification is bigger than the change itself, stay light.

5. Review and debug on purpose

Two commands pull a lot of weight in daily work:

/simplify
/debug

• Use /simplify after implementation to catch reuse, quality, and clarity issues before you commit.
• Use /debug when you have an actual failure, flaky behavior, or a bug report and you want Claude to investigate before proposing random fixes.
• Add /security-review for auth, permissions, secrets, payments, or anything production-sensitive.

6. Context management

Claude Code sessions usually fail from wasted context before they fail from absolute context limits.

Use context management as part of the normal workflow, not as an emergency-only move.

Watch the session before it drifts

Run:

/context

Use it when:

• the session has been open for a while
• Claude has explored several files or branches of thought
• you are about to start a new phase of work

Compact before the session gets noisy

Run:

/compact retain the current plan, the failing verification, the files in play, and the next action

Good compaction prompts name exactly what must survive. Bad compaction prompts say only “summarize this.”

Interrupt bad turns early

Use Ctrl+C when Claude starts going down the wrong path.

That matters because every unnecessary diff, file scan, and speculative idea burns context you could have spent on the actual task.

Prefer targeted reading over broad scanning

When you already know the area, ask for the specific files or folders instead of the whole repo. Broad exploration is useful early, but repeated broad exploration is a context leak.

Fork or resume instead of overloading one thread

Use:

claude -c
claude -r "feature-oauth"
claude -c --fork-session

• resume when you want to continue the same thread
• fork when you need to branch the investigation without muddying the original session

Context-management checklist

• check /context before the session feels broken
• compact around 70-80% instead of waiting for the last moment
• interrupt drift with Ctrl+C
• keep prompts specific
• resume or fork instead of forcing unrelated work into one long session

7. Carry work across time and devices

When a session matters, keep it resumable:

/rename checkout-bug
/rc

• /rename gives the session a useful name
• /rc makes it reachable from the Claude app or Claude Code remote view
• claude -c and claude -r "<name>" bring the same work back later

This is more valuable than it sounds. Teams lose a lot of momentum by treating every session like disposable scratch space.

8. Reach for advanced modes later

The advanced controls are powerful, but they are not the starting point:

/fast
/effort high
/batch
/loop

Use them only after the basic daily loop is already stable:

• /fast and /effort tune speed versus reasoning depth
• /batch is for genuinely parallel migrations
• /loop is for recurring checks or routines, not ordinary coding

If you need them, continue with Scaling Workflows. If you do not, ignore them for now.

Daily workflow in one sentence

Start a named session, explore before editing, make verification explicit, review before shipping, and only add more automation after the simple loop already works.