Claude and Claude Code Merge: Anthropic Engineers Say Delete Your CLAUDE.md Every 6 Months
rubenhassid · x · 2026-10-23
Ruben Hassid's new guide argues Claude has effectively become one product: the Chat interface can now code and spawn agents, making it virtually indistinguishable from Claude Code, with new Design and Customize surfaces in the UI.
His core advice: delete most of your setup — files, folders, and long prompts.
- Boris Cherny, the engineer behind Claude Code: "Every 6 months, delete your CLAUDE.md. Delete your skills. Delete your hooks. See what the model does, and it might surprise you."
- Thariq Shihipar of Anthropic admits the team itself was "over-constraining Claude Code, both through our system prompt and in our CLAUDE.md files and skills" — and deleted theirs first.
The article walks from beginner to pro usage, advocating letting model capability shine instead of stacking constraints.
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