Setup & Installation
Or with the ClawHub CLI, for registry-managed skill folders outside a full OpenClaw workspace:
Version History
- Major rewrite: skill focus changed from enforcing response optimization to guiding CLAUDE.md file writing. - Now provides concise best practices and anti-patterns for CLAUDE.md optimization. - Includes specific structural, formatting, and pruning advice. - Removes previous XML/output rules and step-by-step workflow details. - Adds checklists, practical examples, and clarifies what not to include.
What This Skill Does
A guide for writing lean, effective CLAUDE.md files that Claude Code will actually follow. Covers what to include, what to cut, file placement, and how to maintain the file over time.
Most CLAUDE.md files are too long, causing Claude to skip critical rules — this guide enforces a pruning-first mindset that keeps instructions short enough to actually work.
When to use it
- Creating a CLAUDE.md for a new project from scratch
- Auditing an existing CLAUDE.md that Claude seems to be ignoring
- Deciding which conventions are worth documenting vs. leaving implicit
- Setting up subdirectory-level CLAUDE.md files for monorepos
- Trimming a bloated CLAUDE.md after it grows past 50 lines
Example Workflow
Here's how your AI assistant might use this skill in practice.
User asks: review my CLAUDE.md and help me improve it
- 1Reads the existing CLAUDE.md file
- 2Checks each line against the 'would removing this cause mistakes?' test
- 3Identifies redundant rules, obvious patterns, and prose that should be bullets
- 4Suggests removals and rewrites remaining content as terse bullet points
- 5Outputs a revised CLAUDE.md under 50 lines
A trimmed CLAUDE.md containing only non-obvious conventions, critical warnings, and project-specific commands