Claude Code tips, run before they ship.
Every recipe here was run in a real Claude Code session first. The cost, the diff and the pass or fail of each check are published next to the advice, and re-tested when Claude Code updates.
| Model | All checks | Avg cost | Avg time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haiku | 3 of 3 | $0.009 | 28s |
| Sonnet | 3 of 3 | $0.105 | 27s |
| Opus | 3 of 3 | $0.221 | 42s |
Claude Code 2.1.296 · 13 Oct 2026 · full run data
Latest recipes
All recipes →- Verified
4,271 → 522tokens the setup added to every session, before and after the audit
We had Claude Code audit a bloated setup. It cut 88% of what the setup loaded.
A 1,500-word CLAUDE.md and 8 skills added about 4,300 tokens to every session. After an audit, the setup added about 500 tokens and every rule still held. That was a cut of around 16% of startup context, not most of it.
- Verified
73% morecost per run with plan mode first (6 of 6 passed either way)
Plan mode first, or just start? Both passed; planning cost 73% more
We asked Claude Code to add note archiving to a 24-file API six times. Three runs planned first in plan mode, three just started. All six passed our hidden tests. Planning first cost about 73% more per run, $0.28 against $0.16.
- Verified
3 of 3runs passed the hidden edge-case test with tests first (2 of 3 without)
Ask for tests first: 3 runs with, 3 without
We asked Claude Code for a bill-splitting function six times. Asked plainly, it shipped a rounding bug in 1 of 3 runs. Told to write failing tests first, 3 of 3 passed our hidden edge-case test, for about 2 cents more per run.
- Verified
0 of 3runs edited the generated file with a CLAUDE.md (2 of 3 without)
What a short CLAUDE.md actually changes: 3 runs with, 3 without
We gave Claude Code the same task six times. Without a CLAUDE.md it edited a generated file in 2 of 3 runs. With seven lines of rules, 0 of 3, and it was cheaper too.
- Verified
17% cheaperto stay in one session, even with unrelated tasks
Unrelated tasks, same answer on /clear
Our last test found staying in one session cheaper for related tasks. We repeated it with three unrelated tasks in different parts of a codebase. Staying still won on cost, with one catch.
- Verified
28% cheaperto stay in one session than to clear between tasks
Is /clear worth it? Not for small, related tasks
Three small tasks in the same files, run in one long session or with a fresh session each time. Same results, but clearing cost more, because the long session's context was cached.