Always look at the diff before you accept

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Always look at the diff before you accept

Claude is fast and capable — treat it like a brilliant junior. Read what it's about to change before saying yes. Skipping the diff review is the most expensive habit a newcomer can pick up.

beginner

The mental model: Claude is a brilliant junior colleague. Capable, fast, mostly correct. But brilliant junior still means review-before-merge.

Every time Claude proposes a change, it shows you the diff before applying. Read it. Even briefly. Even when you trust the result.

The two failure modes the diff catches:

1. Wrong scope — Claude edited 14 files when you wanted 1. Easier to catch in the diff than to undo later.
2. Subtle wrong fix — Claude “fixed” a bug by suppressing the symptom instead of finding the cause. Often invisible if you don’t read the code.

Trust grows over time as Claude learns your project (via CLAUDE.md and skills). It never grows to “auto-accept everything”. The diff is cheap; the cleanup isn’t.

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