---
title: "How Boris Uses Claude Code: 13 Core Tips & Advanced Workflows"
section: "raw"
type: "source"
created: "2026-08-27"
updated: "2026-08-27"
canonical: "https://pyweb.dev/wiki/raw/articles/boris-cherny-how-boris-uses-claude-code-2026"
---
# How Boris Uses Claude Code: 13 Core Tips & Advanced Workflows

By Boris Cherny (compiled by Carolina Cherry, 2026). Sourced from Boris Cherny's public workflow disclosures.

A detailed compendium of 13 practical tips, hooks, subagent architectures, and daily maintenance routines used by the creator of Claude Code.

## Core Extraction Summary

### 1. Named Frameworks & Patterns (Author's Exact Words)
- **"5 Claudes in Parallel"**: Running 5 concurrent Claude Code terminal tabs across 5 separate git checkouts or worktrees.
- **"Opus with Thinking for Everything"**: Using the most capable reasoning model exclusively ("less steering + better tool use = faster overall results").
- **"Shared CLAUDE.md Memory"**: Checking `CLAUDE.md` into git and ratcheting negative constraints and workflow commands multiple times per week.
- **"@.claude in Code Reviews"**: Tagging `@claude` in GitHub PR reviews to automatically commit learnings into `CLAUDE.md` (Compounding Engineering).
- **"Plan Mode Workflow"**: Plan mode -> Refine plan -> Auto-accept edits -> Claude 1-shots implementation.
- **"PostToolUse Hooks for Auto-Formatting"**: Formatting hook (`bun run format || true`) attached to `Write|Edit` tool events to eliminate syntax CI failures.
- **"Pre-Allow Safe Permissions"**: Configuring `/permissions` in `.claude/settings.json` to allow safe test/lint commands while denying dangerous operations.
- **"Domain-Specific Verification"**: Boris's #1 tip: providing Claude a direct feedback loop (e.g. Chrome extension for UI testing) **"2-3x the quality of the final result"**.
- **"Subagents as PR Automations"**: Specialist subagents (`code-simplifier`, `verify-app`, `build-validator`, `oncall-guide`).
- **"Truth Tables as PR Evidence"**: Requiring agents to generate structured truth tables and before/after verification proofs in PR descriptions.
- **"Daily Maintenance Routines"**: Eleven automated routines (crash fuzzer, dead-code removal, abstraction police, dup unifier) yielding 388 PRs with 180 clean merges.

### 2. Decision Rules
- **When configuring models for agentic loops**, choose the highest-capability thinking model (Opus) over smaller fast models, **because** smaller models require significantly more steering and tool-use correction.
- **When an agent exhibits an undesired behavior**, immediately add a negative constraint to `CLAUDE.md`, **because** repo-level memory prevents recurring mistakes across all sessions.
- **When executing UI changes**, require the agent to open a real browser via extension/DevTools and verify visual state, **because** UI changes cannot be verified by code inspection alone.
- **When setting permissions**, pre-allow read, build, test, and lint commands in settings, **because** this prevents prompt interruption without compromising filesystem security.

### 3. Anti-Patterns & Failure Mechanisms
- **"Using `--dangerously-skip-permissions`"**: Bypassing permission checks indiscriminately instead of defining granular pre-allowed tool patterns.
- **"Unverified PRs"**: Submitting agent-generated code without domain-specific execution evidence.
- **"Single-threaded prompt waiting"**: Waiting for one agent turn to complete instead of running parallel worktrees with background notifications.

### 4. Quantitative Claims & Qualifiers
- Providing Claude an automated verification feedback loop yields a **2–3x quality improvement** in final code results.
- Claude generates well-formatted code **90% of the time**; PostToolUse hooks catch the remaining 10% edge cases.
- Boris runs **5 parallel instances in terminal + 5–10 web/mobile sessions**.
- Automated maintenance routines generated **388 PRs resulting in 180 clean merges** (probe-then-delete approach).

### 5. What the Source Does NOT Claim
- Does **NOT** claim that smaller, cheaper models are more cost-effective for agentic development; explicitly claims larger reasoning models are cheaper and faster in total due to minimal steering.

---

## 13 Practical Tips Breakdown

1. **Run 5 Claudes in Parallel**: 5 separate terminal tabs, each in its own git checkout/worktree (`~/repo-1` to `~/repo-5`), with iTerm2 notifications.
2. **Parallel Web & Mobile Sessions**: 5–10 additional sessions on `claude.ai/code`, using `&` (background) and `--teleport`.
3. **Opus with Thinking for Everything**: Superior tool calling and reasoning outweighs latency.
4. **Shared CLAUDE.md Documentation**: Central repo memory checked into git.
5. **@.claude in PR Reviews**: Compounding engineering via automated PR learning commits.
6. **Start in Plan Mode**: Refine the plan with shift+tab before auto-accepting code edits.
7. **Slash Commands for Inner Loops**: Checked in under `.claude/commands/` with inline Bash pre-computations.
8. **Subagents for Workflows**: `code-simplifier`, `verify-app`, `build-validator`.
9. **PostToolUse Hooks**: Auto-format on every `Write|Edit` tool call.
10. **Pre-Allow Safe Permissions**: Grant granular permissions in `.claude/settings.json`.
11. **Tool Integrations**: MCP servers for Slack, BigQuery (`bq`), and Sentry.
12. **Handle Long-Running Tasks**: Background verification agents and stop hooks.
13. **Verification (#1 Tip)**: Give Claude domain-specific verification tools (Chrome extension, test runners) to 2-3x quality.

---

## Agent Navigation

### Machine endpoints
- Knowledge graph: https://pyweb.dev/api/graph.json
- Graph analysis: https://pyweb.dev/api/graph-analysis.json
- Context index: https://pyweb.dev/llms.txt