# Planning & Workflow

## Why This Matters

Boris from the Claude Code team: "Go back and forth with Claude until you like the plan before you let Claude execute. This easily 2-3x's results for harder tasks." The community-recommended paradigm is **PLAN -> TASK CREATION -> EXECUTE**.

## Current State

- CLAUDE.md mentions milestones and verification scripts (good)
- No explicit planning workflow documented
- Plan Mode available but not emphasised in workflow

## Recommended Workflow

### 1. Plan Mode (Shift+Tab twice)
Enter Plan Mode before any non-trivial task. Iterate on the plan until you're satisfied. Plans save to `~/.claude/plans/` for historical review. This is the single highest-ROI workflow change according to the Claude Code team.

### 2. Verification-Driven Development
Give Claude explicit ways to check its own work. Boris says this alone "2-3x's output quality."

- For Helm: `helm template` to validate values
- For Kubernetes: `kustomize build`, `kubectl --dry-run`
- For web: Playwright MCP or `curl --resolve`
- For code: test commands, lint commands, type-checking
- For infra: `scripts/verify-m<N>.sh` (you already do this well)

### 3. Test-Driven Development Loops
Let Claude write tests alongside code, then run them autonomously. The "write-test cycle" creates a self-healing loop:
1. Claude writes/modifies code
2. Runs tests
3. If tests fail, fixes code
4. Repeats until green

This is especially powerful with commit-gate hooks that prevent commits until tests pass.

### 4. The Stingraycharles Approach
The creator of Claude Code's personal workflow:
- "Do not allow the LLM to make any implicit decisions — confirm with the user"
- Planning phase takes 1+ hours for complex tasks, but catches issues early
- Structure code so AI can easily understand it ("LLM-friendly code")
- Document invisible knowledge that's difficult to infer from code alone
- Uses sub-agents plus reusable skills, with most skills invoking Python scripts

Reference: https://github.com/solatis/claude-config/