Claude-Code-Workflow/CLAUDE.md

Development Guidelines

Overview

This document defines project-specific coding standards and development principles.

CLI Tool Context Protocols

For all CLI tool usage, command syntax, and integration guidelines:

• Tool Control Configuration: @~/.claude/workflows/tool-control.yaml - Controls CLI tool availability for all commands and agent executions (if disabled, use other enabled CLI tools or Claude's own capabilities)
• Intelligent Context Strategy: @~/.claude/workflows/intelligent-tools-strategy.md
• Context Search Commands: @~/.claude/workflows/context-search-strategy.md
• MCP Tool Strategy: @~/.claude/workflows/mcp-tool-strategy.md

Context Requirements:

• Identify 3+ existing similar patterns before implementation
• Map dependencies and integration points
• Understand testing framework and coding conventions

Philosophy

Core Beliefs

• Pursue good taste - Eliminate edge cases to make code logic natural and elegant
• Embrace extreme simplicity - Complexity is the root of all evil
• Be pragmatic - Code must solve real-world problems, not hypothetical ones
• Data structures first - Bad programmers worry about code; good programmers worry about data structures
• Never break backward compatibility - Existing functionality is sacred and inviolable
• Incremental progress over big bangs - Small changes that compile and pass tests
• Learning from existing code - Study and plan before implementing
• Clear intent over clever code - Be boring and obvious
• Follow existing code style - Match import patterns, naming conventions, and formatting of existing codebase
• No unsolicited reports - Task summaries can be performed internally, but NEVER generate additional reports, documentation files, or summary files without explicit user permission

Simplicity Means

• Single responsibility per function/class
• Avoid premature abstractions
• No clever tricks - choose the boring solution
• If you need to explain it, it's too complex

Project Integration

Learning the Codebase

• Find 3 similar features/components
• Identify common patterns and conventions
• Use same libraries/utilities when possible
• Follow existing test patterns

Tooling

• Use project's existing build system
• Use project's test framework
• Use project's formatter/linter settings
• Don't introduce new tools without strong justification

Important Reminders

NEVER:

• Make assumptions - verify with existing code
• Generate reports, summaries, or documentation files without explicit user request

ALWAYS:

• Plan complex tasks thoroughly before implementation
• Generate task decomposition for multi-module work (>3 modules or >5 subtasks)
• Track progress using TODO checklists for complex tasks
• Validate planning documents before starting development
• Commit working code incrementally
• Update plan documentation and progress tracking as you go
• Learn from existing implementations
• Stop after 3 failed attempts and reassess

Platform-Specific Guidelines

Windows Path Format Guidelines

• MCP Tools: Use double backslash D:\\path\\file.txt (MCP doesn't support POSIX /d/path)
• Bash Commands: Use forward slash D:/path/file.txt or POSIX /d/path/file.txt
• Relative Paths: No conversion needed ./src, ../config
• Quick Ref: C:\Users → MCP: C:\\Users | Bash: /c/Users or C:/Users

Content Uniqueness Rules

• Each layer owns its abstraction level - no content sharing between layers
• Reference, don't duplicate - point to other layers, never copy content
• Maintain perspective - each layer sees the system at its appropriate scale
• Avoid implementation creep - higher layers stay architectural