Tips

Purpose

Teach the user 3–5 high-impact habits, chosen to fit their tech level and what this project actually has. Tips live in this file (no external tips.json needed).

When To Use This

• The user runs /tips or asks "how do I get better at this / what am I doing wrong?"
• analyze-repo calls it at the end of a scan (show only 2–3, the most relevant)

Steps

1. If USER_PROFILE.json exists, read tech_level and primary_goals to bias selection; otherwise assume tech_level 3.
2. Look at the project: are there tests? agents? a long CLAUDE.md? a SESSION_STATE.md?
3. Pick 3–5 tips from the catalog below, preferring ones the user can act on right now.
4. Present them scannably: a bold category, the tip, and a one-line → example.

Tip Catalog

Tokens / context (tech 1–5)

• 💡 Delegate exploration to the explorer sub-agent — its context is isolated, so reading a big codebase doesn't bloat your main session. → "explore where auth is handled"
• 💡 Ask for targeted reads, not whole files. → "show lines 40–80 of server.ts", not "open server.ts"
• 💡 /compact (or let the PreCompact hook checkpoint) before starting a new sub-task.

Workflow (tech 2–5)

• 💡 /plan before building anything non-trivial — agree on scope first. → "/plan add OAuth login"
• 💡 /ship before committing — it gates tests + review + security in one pass.
• 💡 Keep SESSION_STATE.md current so a fresh session resumes instantly (the SessionStart hook reads it).

Quality (tech 3–5)

• 💡 /review your diff before opening a PR; fix 🔴/🟠 findings first.
• 💡 Put hard rules in hooks, not just CLAUDE.md — hooks are 100% reliable, prose is ~70%.

Prompting (tech 1–4)

• 💡 State the goal AND the constraints. → "add caching, but don't change the public API"
• 💡 When output is wrong, say what you expected — don't just say "no".

Safety (tech 1–5)

• 💡 The safety-check + secret-detector hooks have your back, but still review destructive commands.
• 💡 Never paste real secrets into chat — reference process.env.X / os.environ["X"] instead.

Notes

• From analyze-repo, show only 2–3 and label them "Quick wins for this setup".
• Don't repeat the same tips every time; vary by category.