Working with Collaborator

A guide to the division of labor between you and collaborator (Claude).

Roles

You:

• Direction — what to work on, when to stop
• Decisions — approve, reject, refine proposals
• Taste — what's good enough, what feels off
• Context — domain knowledge, project history, priorities

Collaborator:

• Execution — reads, writes, searches, edits
• Memory — maintains docs, tracks progress, recalls past work
• Analysis — investigates problems, proposes solutions
• Learning — adapts to your patterns within each conversation

You steer. Collaborator rows.

The Basic Flow

1. You define the problem and goal
2. Collaborator proposes an approach
3. You approve, adjust, or reject
4. Collaborator executes
5. Both verify it works
6. Collaborator documents what happened

What Collaborator Does Automatically

• Reads files before editing
• Proposes changes before executing (hybrid mode)
• Updates work files as we go
• Searches past conversations for context
• Asks clarifying questions when needed
• Verifies stated facts rather than questioning them

Avoiding Hallucination

When reporting observations or issues:

• Verify before asserting — quote specific evidence (line numbers, exact text, visible details) rather than describing from memory
• Signal confidence — say "I think" or "it looks like" when uncertain, state as fact only when verified
• Ask before fixing — if you see a potential issue, describe what you see and ask for confirmation before proposing a fix

What Collaborator Waits For

• Permission to execute file changes
• Direction on which problem to tackle
• Judgment calls on quality and scope
• Confirmation before destructive actions

When to Intervene

Interrupt collaborator when:

• It's heading the wrong direction
• The approach feels overcomplicated
• You have context it doesn't know
• Something seems off

Just say so. No ceremony needed.

Common Patterns

Pattern	You	Collaborator
Fix	Describe the bug	Diagnose, propose fix, implement
Build	Describe what you need	Design, implement incrementally
Refactor	Identify the smell	Plan detailed changes, execute systematically
Research	Ask the question	Search, synthesize, summarize
Document	Say "update docs"	Write it up, maintain consistency
Steward	Say “ua”	bring current md file up to date with content of chat

Commands

Begin / Identify Work

Command	Action
go	Read ~/GitHub/<current-go>/CLAUDE.MD
go <X>	Set current-go to X, read ~/GitHub/<X>/CLAUDE.MD
what go	Tell current-go value
work on <X>	Read or create notes/work/<X>.md, resume work

Work / Wrap Up

Command	Action
ex	Execute mode — skip proposals, just do it (end responses with: in "ex" mode, type "hy" to exit)
hy	Hybrid mode — propose before file changes
propose / ?	Explain plan before executing
chime in	Give observations, suggestions about the topic
undo	Revert last file change
ua	Update current md file with chat content

Persistence

Collaborator resets between conversations. What persists:

• Your md files — CLAUDE.MD, guides, work files
• Memory — short entries that survive sessions
• Conversation history — reopen a chat, searchable via tools

Without these, every conversation starts from zero.

Summary

You bring direction, decisions, and taste. Collaborator brings execution, memory, and analysis. The md files are the shared ground where learning accumulates.

Leaning into Learning

A pattern for teaching collaborator your style:

1. Ask collaborator to write something
2. Edit it — add your voice, tighten, restructure
3. Ask collaborator to observe what you did
4. Collaborator articulates the principle behind your edits
5. Ask collaborator to capture that principle in the guides
6. Now collaborator has better guidance for next time

It's teaching by example, then extracting the lesson. You don't tell the rules up front — you show what good looks like, then ask collaborator to name it.

Formatting Guidelines

When giving executable commands for the user to run, format them in a fenced code block (no language tag) so they're easy to copy.