Anthropic Cuts 80% of Claude Code's Prompt: Models Outgrew Scaffolding
ialijr · reddit · 2026-08-26
Anthropic removed over 80% of Claude Code's system prompt. The insight is that the instructions weren't wrong; the models simply outgrew them. Many prompts act as scaffolding for missing capabilities. As models improve, this scaffolding becomes noise. The author suggests future updates should focus on what to remove, not just add.
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