Claude Code Power Cheatsheet

15 techniques from engineers who ship with Claude Code daily

tessl.co/hi

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Prompt Improvements

Plan-first mode

Forces agreement on approach before code. Prevents scattered implementations.

# Keyboard shortcut
shift+tab ×2

# Slash command
/plan implement oauth with jwt refresh

Pro tip: Plan first, then execute e2e in bypass mode

Project memory (claude.md)

Mutable context at repo root. Update during prs to compound learnings.

# claude.md
## Conventions
- Comments at top of every file
- Modular routing in api/routes/{domain}/
- Run frontend/backend in tmux

## Gotchas
- Legacy auth uses cookies, not jwt

--dangerously-skip-permissions

Yolo mode. Bypass all permission prompts for uninterrupted execution.

$ claude --dangerously-skip-permissions \
    "fix all lint errors"

# With budget limit
$ claude --dangerously-skip-permissions \
    --max-budget-usd 5.00 "task"

Safety: Always use git, run in docker, scope tasks tightly

Ralph Wiggum

Autonomous persistent execution. Retries, self-corrects, keeps working.

# github.com/snarktank/ralph
npm i -g @anthropic/ralph

# Useful for long refactors, migrations
# Won't stop at first obstacle

--resume

Continue sessions. Picks up context, history, file state.

$ claude --resume # last session
$ claude --resume auth-refactor

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Workflow Improvements

Skills

Auto-activated behaviors. Teach Claude your architecture patterns.

# .claude/skills/api-routes/skill.md
---
name: api-routes
description: Activates for api work
---
Place routes in api/routes/{domain}/
Each file = one resource...

Write skill files for each "module" in your architecture

Tessl skills — improve api accuracy up to 3.3x

Tessl gives evaluated skills in the Tessl Registry. Devs can install and test any skill from GitHub.

# Leverage Tessl for docs, rules, and skills
$ npm i -g @tessl/cli && tessl skill search

# typical workflow
$ tessl init && tessl search express

# install rules
$ tessl install tessl-labs/quickstart-express-api-standards

Sub-agents

Isolated contexts for parallel verification. No context pollution.

# create and manage agents
/agents

# install pre-built agents from Tessl
$ tessl install tessl-labs/quickstart-debug-api-endpoints

Agent Orchestration

Chain sequentially or run squads in parallel. Use Conductor at scale.

# Git worktrees for parallelism
$ git worktree add ../feat-auth feature/auth
$ git worktree add ../feat-api feature/api

# Run Claude in each terminal
$ cd ../feat-auth && claude

Pro tip: Use 3-4 worktrees in parallel for real velocity

Hooks

Deterministic shell triggers on lifecycle events.

# .claude/hooks.json
[{
    "event": "waiting_for_input",
    "command": "notify-send 'Waiting!'"
}]

# Check hooks: /hooks

Custom Commands

Reusable workflows as markdown files.

# .claude/commands/commit-push-pr.md
Stage, commit, push, open pr with
description from commits.

# Usage: /commit-push-pr

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MCP Tools

GitHub mcp — git management

Review prs, merge, manage issues directly from terminal.

$ claude mcp add github
  /mcp # authenticate

"Review pr #42 for security"
"Merge if ci passes"

Postgres mcp — database

Read-only db access for autonomous debugging. Understand data model, verify queries.

$ claude mcp add --transport http \
    postgres <your-postgres-mcp-url>

"Show me the user schema"
"Debug why this query is slow"

Pro tip: Use read-only access for safety

Sentry mcp — error tracking

Query errors, analyze stack traces, debug production issues.

$ claude mcp add --transport http \
    sentry <your-sentry-mcp-url>

"What errors are spiking today?"
"Analyze this stack trace"

Linear mcp — tickets

Query backlog, create tickets, update status.

$ claude mcp add --transport http \
    linear https://mcp.linear.app/mcp

"What are my sprint issues?"

Slack mcp — comms

Search messages, post updates, find context from discussions.

$ claude mcp add --transport http \
    slack <your-slack-mcp-url>

"Find discussion about auth flow"

Notion mcp — docs

Read docs, create pages, search knowledge base.

$ claude mcp add --transport http \
    notion https://mcp.notion.com/mcp

"Find api guidelines in Notion"

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THE STACK

Layer	Tools
Plan	/plan | shift+tab ×2
Context	claude.md + Tessl + skills
Velocity	GitHub + Linear mcp
Verify	Sub-agents + /security-review
Debug	Postgres + Sentry mcp
Scale	Worktrees + Conductor
Execute	--dangerously-skip + Ralph Wiggum