I had a problem. My CLAUDE.md file was 300+ lines of verbose documentation that Claude Code routinely ignored. Sound familiar?

After researching what actually works in the community, I discovered the brutal truth: Claude Code doesn’t read novels. It needs bullet points and shortcuts.

Here’s how I cut my documentation by 66% while making it infinitely more effective.

The Problem: Verbose Documentation Gets Ignored

My original CLAUDE.md looked like this:

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### Error Handling
- Implement comprehensive error handling with specific, actionable messages.
- Use real-time status broadcasting for user feedback.
- Centralize broadcasting logic in private methods.
- Persist errors to the database for user visibility.
- Follow the Single Responsibility Principle: one service, one task.

Sounds comprehensive, right? Wrong. Claude Code would consistently miss these rules because they were buried in prose.

What Actually Works: Research from the Community

I dove deep into the Claude Code community and found some eye-opening insights:

“You’re writing for Claude, not onboarding a junior dev” - Expert developers reported that concise, scannable formats work dramatically better.

Shorthand commands are game-changers - Top developers use shortcuts like qplan, qcode, qcheck with “10x better results.”

Structure beats iterations - Research shows “1 iteration with structure was of similar accuracy to 8 iterations with unstructured prompts.”

The Solution: Radical Simplification

Before: Verbose Explanations

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### Services
- Follow the Single Responsibility Principle: one service, one task.
- Use class methods for stateless operations.
- Return domain objects, not primitives or temporary files.
- Prefer keyword arguments for clarity and maintainability.

After: Scannable Patterns

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### Service Pattern
```ruby
class ExampleService
  def self.call(user:, resource:)  # keyword args only
    # return domain objects, comprehensive error handling
  end
end

Instantly scannable. Immediately actionable.

The Secret Weapon: Shorthand Commands

The biggest game-changer? Adding commands that trigger specific workflows:

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### Common Commands
- `qplan` = analyze codebase consistency before implementing  
- `qcode` = implement with tests and formatting
- `qcheck` = review against CLAUDE.md checklists
- `qcommit` = run quality checks then commit

Now instead of hoping Claude remembers rules, I just type qcheck and it automatically reviews against my standards.

Key Rules That Actually Get Followed

Testing (crystal clear, no ambiguity):

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### Testing Rules
- **Request specs** for UI/API interactions (NOT controller or view specs)
- **Service specs** for business logic
- **Model specs** for validations and associations
- NEVER use `sleep` or time mocking - mock conditions directly

Code Standards (scannable patterns):

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### Code Standards
- Use constants, not magic strings (`STATUS_COMPLETED`)
- Check authorization before all operations
- Clean up temp files in `ensure` blocks
- Use `let` not instance variables in specs

The Results: Night and Day Difference

Before: Claude would consistently:

  • Skip documentation checks
  • Forget to run quality scripts
  • Create the wrong types of tests
  • Ignore established patterns

After: Claude now:

  • Always checks specs with qspec
  • Automatically runs quality checks with qcommit
  • Creates request specs instead of controller specs
  • Follows patterns consistently

Key Principles That Work

  1. Scannable Over Comprehensive - Bullet points beat paragraphs
  2. Commands Over Explanations - qcheck beats “please review your code”
  3. Examples Over Rules - Code snippets beat written explanations
  4. Structure Over Length - Clear sections beat comprehensive coverage
  5. Enforcement Over Hope - Build verification into workflow

Your Action Plan

  1. Audit Your Current File - Count lines, identify verbose sections
  2. Create Shorthand Commands - qplan, qcode, qcheck, qcommit
  3. Replace Prose with Structure - Bullet points and code examples
  4. Add Enforcement - Require checks before coding
  5. Test and Iterate - Try it on real features, refine based on usage

The Bottom Line

Claude Code is incredibly powerful, but only if you speak its language. That language isn’t verbose documentation - it’s concise, structured, actionable guidance.

Stop writing novels. Start writing bullet points.

Your AI assistant will finally follow your rules.

What’s your biggest challenge with Claude Code documentation?