4 Hard Lessons on Optimizing AI Coding Agents (Claude Code + Cost)
I've been running Claude Code Cli in production for about months now—building, shipping, and watching the token meter spin. Here's what I wish I knew before I started.
1. Your Context Strategy Is Everything
The developers getting 10x from Claude Code aren't prompt whisperers. They're context engineers.
The 2026 consensus is clear: CLAUDE.md is no longer optional. Keep it lean. Ask yourself: "Would removing this line cause the agent to make mistakes?" If not, cut it. No one has time to scroll through 15k tokens of stale docs every session.
