Boris Cherny's Claude Code workflow as a drop-in CLAUDE.md (workflow orchestration, subagents, self-improvement loop, verification, autonomous bug fixing). Source: thread from @bcherny.

Boris Cherny shared a detailed Claude Code workflow designed to improve AI agent reliability through structured planning, subagent orchestration, and self-improvement loops. The methodology emphasizes plan-first execution, continuous verification, and a lessons-learned system to prevent repeated mistakes. It also includes autonomous bug fixing and CI failure resolution without user hand-holding.

CLAUDE.md https://gist.github.com/shahshrey/44da3ef7f0120297466c67bda526b018 file-claude-md - Enter plan mode for ANY non-trivial task 3+ steps or architectural decisions - If something goes sideways, STOP and re-plan immediately - don't keep pushing - Use plan mode for verification steps, not just building - Write detailed specs upfront to reduce ambiguity - Use subagents liberally to keep main context window clean - Offload research, exploration, and parallel analysis to subagents - For complex problems, throw more compute at it via subagents - One tack per subagent for focused execution - After ANY correction from the user: update tasks/lessons.md with the pattern - Write rules for yourself that prevent the same mistake - Ruthlessly iterate on these lessons until mistake rate drops - Review lessons at session start for relevant project 4. Verification Before Done - Never mark a task complete without proving it works - Diff behavior between main and your changes when relevant - Ask yourself: "Would a staff engineer approve this?" - Run tests, check logs, demonstrate correctness 5. Demand Elegance Balanced - For non-trivial changes: pause and ask "is there a more elegant way?" - If a fix feels hacky: "Knowing everything I know now, implement the elegant solution" - Skip this for simple, obvious fixes - don't over-engineer - Challenge your own work before presenting it - When given a bug report: just fix it. Don't ask for hand-holding - Point at logs, errors, failing tests - then resolve them - Zero context switching required from the user - Go fix failing CI tests without being told how Plan First : Write plan to tasks/todo.md with checkable items Verify Plan : Check in before starting implementation Track Progress : Mark items complete as you go Explain Changes : High-level summary at each step Document Results : Add review section to tasks/todo.md Capture Lessons : Update tasks/lessons.md after corrections Simplicity First : Make every change as simple as possible. Impact minimal code. No Laziness : Find root causes. No temporary fixes. Senior developer standards. Minimat Impact : Changes should only touch what's necessary. Avoid introducing bugs.