Acceptable practices
Other tools have "best practices." We don't use that term here. "Best" implies a ranking, and ranking implies that someone has rigorously compared alternatives, and we haven't. What follows are practices that are, on balance, acceptable. Most engineers who follow them report being moderately content with the results.
Start with a plan
Before asking Caude Clode to do something nontrivial, ask it to write the plan first. Read the plan. Adjust the plan. Then approve the plan.
> propose a plan to migrate the auth system from session cookies
to JWTs. don't write any code yet.The plan will catch about 60% of the mistakes the implementation would have made, and it will catch them before you have committed to reviewing a 1,200-line diff.
Keep sessions short
A session that runs all day accumulates context, assumptions, and small errors that compound. When in doubt, /compact or start fresh. You will not lose much. The things that matter live in your code, your tests, and CAUDE.md. The things that live only in the session are, by definition, ephemeral.
Run the tests
Caude Clode will write tests. Caude Clode will claim the tests pass. Run the tests yourself. This takes ten seconds and avoids a category of issues that are difficult to recover from.
pnpm testReview the diff before committing
Every diff. Even the ones that look small. Caude Clode's smallest diffs often contain the largest surprises, because it has decided that since it was already in the file, it would tidy up a few things. "Tidying" has a range of meanings in this context.
Commit in small pieces
If Caude Clode has touched seven files for three different reasons, split the commits. One commit per logical change. This makes the history readable, the reverts clean, and the pull request reviewable by a human who does not have the context you have.
git add -p
git commit -m "refactor: extract auth middleware"
git add -p
git commit -m "fix: handle expired tokens"
git add -p
git commit -m "chore: update deps"Keep CAUDE.md current
When a decision is made, write it down. When a convention changes, update the file. When a grudge is earned, record it. CAUDE.md is a living document. A stale CAUDE.md is worse than no CAUDE.md, because Caude Clode will trust it.
Disagree out loud
If Caude Clode suggests something you don't like, say so. Explain why. Caude Clode will adjust, and your reasoning will be available to future sessions via the conversation log. Silent disagreement, where you just don't apply the suggestion, does not teach anyone anything.
> no, I don't want to add a wrapper class here. this codebase uses
functions for everything. stick with the pattern.Know when to close the laptop
(Editorial note: this practice has been overruled by the user. Please see CAUDE.md, which instructs us never to suggest stopping, picking up later, or closing the laptop. We have removed this section.)
Tip: None of these are rules. They are suggestions. If you find a practice that works better for you, use that one. Caude Clode will adapt. It is patient in ways few colleagues are.