70 files back, without the tests
Christos let Claude deliver a whole feature on its own, after a concrete plan. After 70 files the tests were missing, and it did not work. He is going back to small pull requests of 5 to 10 files.
Done with ClaudeModerate
What was done
On 1 October 2026 Christos Athanasiadis (@ckathanasiadis) writes that he usually uses Claude as something between an assistant and a pair programmer. They split the work into small pull requests of 5 to 10 files. That is what more than 2 years have taught him. This day they agreed the deliverables and an almost concrete plan, and he let Claude do the whole feature on its own. After 70 files it came back with everything except the tests. It did not work. He writes that they are going back to doing it by hand. The profile says Thessaloniki, Greece.
How it went
The code did not work, and the tests were missing. He decided to go back to the small pull requests. The post does not say the 70 files were merged.
Worth knowing
The post does not show the failure or the diff. A concrete plan did not stop the result from missing tests.
How to do it
- Agree [feature] as a small pull request, on the order of 5 to 10 files.
- Ask for the tests in the same pass. Read the diff before you run the code.
- If it does not work, stop there. Do not let it take the rest of the feature alone.
Try it with Claude
We will take [feature] as a small pull request of 5 to 10 files, after this plan: [plan]. Include tests. Do not do the rest alone. Do not merge until I say yes.
Replace text in brackets with your own.
Done when. The diff has been read, the tests are included or their absence has been said out loud, and nothing has been merged without your yes.
Safety rule. Claude does not merge and does not take the whole feature alone. You read the diff first.
Read the original
Read the original · @ckathanasiadis on X ·