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I wish I could disable most of these. I already hate all the "oh you're actually right, let me fix that" nonsense. Then it proceeds to burn 50k tokens on the gi

I wish I could disable most of these. I already hate all the "oh you're actually right, let me fix that" nonsense. Then it proceeds to burn 50k tokens on the git history instead of copying logic A from a different part of the codebase to logic B, where I want that exact logic without having to write the boilerplate myself...

apsurd 4mo ago
Makes me think of how my Claude.md files specifies to use the built in framework code-generators (rails). Those generators are deterministically right every time. I wonder how often the Agent actually follows the guidance. I do see them follow it when I look. But it doesn't seem so every time.
- thefunnyman 4mo ago
  This is tricky since it can and will ignore your md directions. When possible I try to lean on tool call hooks or skills that invoke deterministic scripts. As much as you can remove the "choice" the better though still there's a lot of randomness in how reliably it invokes skills ime.
  - internet101010 4mo ago
    Hooks are incredibly underused by most people and are the easiest way to establish a first line of defense against bad behavior. Things like blocking tool calls that will read .env file or execute "create or replace table".
    - apsurd 4mo ago
      im implementing this now. thanks. the guides specify the exact intention of more determinism.
sfn42 4mo ago
A lot of the time if you're copying code from one place to another what you actually want to do is abstract it so you can reuse it in both places. The LLM can easily do this type of stuff, just tell it and it'll happily do it. This is exactly what I mean when I tell people they need to work closer with the AI, tell it how to do things. Don't just tell it what to do and get frustrated when it does it differently than you would. A good way to achieve this without writing huge prompts is tell it to plan the change first. Just give it some vague low-effort directions. It'll usually get most things right, you tell it what you want different and once you're happy you tell it to go ahead.
- sevenzero 4mo ago
  Nah the codebase is legacy fucked and I cant be bothered to try and optimize business flows without the fear of other stuff breaking. Claude 100% of the time even thinks we use laravel despite the project being some old lumen codebase, so most of laravels features are not available. It also gets the PHP version we are using wrong 100% of the time.
  - sfn42 4mo ago
    Have you tried adding this information to claude.md so it knows? I also think your excuse is bad. "The code is legacy fucked so I'll just legacy fuck it some more because I can't be bothered to make an effort"
    - adithyassekhar 4mo ago
      This is a spicy take, unless the business is willing to face some down time, and I am hired to do exactly what you said, I’d never touch any line of code unless I absolutely have to. Different environments don’t help as much. We tend to obsess over software quality when it’s the least important thing for a business. It’s just a means to an end.
      - sevenzero 4mo ago
        This is what its about, we have multiple ecom shops running 24/7 and cant simply afford downtime or a change of business flow that maybe doesnt affect shop A and B but definitely affects shop C and D...

apsurd 4mo ago

Makes me think of how my Claude.md files specifies to use the built in framework code-generators (rails). Those generators are deterministically right every time. I wonder how often the Agent actually follows the guidance. I do see them follow it when I look. But it doesn't seem so every time.

thefunnyman 4mo ago
This is tricky since it can and will ignore your md directions. When possible I try to lean on tool call hooks or skills that invoke deterministic scripts. As much as you can remove the "choice" the better though still there's a lot of randomness in how reliably it invokes skills ime.
- internet101010 4mo ago
  Hooks are incredibly underused by most people and are the easiest way to establish a first line of defense against bad behavior. Things like blocking tool calls that will read .env file or execute "create or replace table".
  - apsurd 4mo ago
    im implementing this now. thanks. the guides specify the exact intention of more determinism.

sfn42 4mo ago

A lot of the time if you're copying code from one place to another what you actually want to do is abstract it so you can reuse it in both places. The LLM can easily do this type of stuff, just tell it and it'll happily do it. This is exactly what I mean when I tell people they need to work closer with the AI, tell it how to do things. Don't just tell it what to do and get frustrated when it does it differently than you would. A good way to achieve this without writing huge prompts is tell it to plan the change first. Just give it some vague low-effort directions. It'll usually get most things right, you tell it what you want different and once you're happy you tell it to go ahead.

sevenzero 4mo ago
Nah the codebase is legacy fucked and I cant be bothered to try and optimize business flows without the fear of other stuff breaking. Claude 100% of the time even thinks we use laravel despite the project being some old lumen codebase, so most of laravels features are not available. It also gets the PHP version we are using wrong 100% of the time.
- sfn42 4mo ago
  Have you tried adding this information to claude.md so it knows? I also think your excuse is bad. "The code is legacy fucked so I'll just legacy fuck it some more because I can't be bothered to make an effort"
  - adithyassekhar 4mo ago
    This is a spicy take, unless the business is willing to face some down time, and I am hired to do exactly what you said, I’d never touch any line of code unless I absolutely have to. Different environments don’t help as much. We tend to obsess over software quality when it’s the least important thing for a business. It’s just a means to an end.
    - sevenzero 4mo ago
      This is what its about, we have multiple ecom shops running 24/7 and cant simply afford downtime or a change of business flow that maybe doesnt affect shop A and B but definitely affects shop C and D...