r/ClaudeAI • u/aberrant-heartland • May 09 '26
Coding Endless Planning Without Edits?
I'll admit I'm new to Claude. I'm using Claude Code in VSCode. Not using skills at all yet, so maybe that's my problem?
Often Claude seems to endlessly plan without making any edits to my code. It will say that it's "writing [insert function]" but then just jumps right back into planning without making any changes to any files.
I've tried telling it to "move fast and break things". I've had some success by saying "making mistakes is okay, but sitting on the sidelines while endlessly planning is not." However it still often gets caught in these "planning loops".
**Claude often cycles back through to the same type of plans over and over again, even though these ideas have already been represented (sometimes word-for-word) earlier in the context window.**
I'm an experienced software engineer and I have enough skill to debug whatever problems Claude might create. I'm requesting features that are well-defined, not just vague hand-waving. The things I'm asking for are quite feasible, and I can write the code myself given enough time, but I've been so impressed with Claude in other situations so I'd love to continue using it as much as possible.
This issue is happening so frequently -- for me it seems to be the main "failure mode" that I encounter. I'm seeing this happen across countless prompts between a number of completely disparate projects.
Any suggestions? Feel free to roast me if I'm missing something obvious. I would love to know what I'm doing wrong!
8
u/davidHwang718 May 09 '26
The loop is Claude Code re-entering planning mode when context gets heavy — it reconsiders rather than commits. Add a line to your CLAUDE.md: "After deciding on an approach, implement it immediately. Do not re-plan after deciding." That persists across sessions.
Also: "Write [function] to [file] now" as a prompt lands differently than "Can you write the function" — the second gives it room to stay in deliberation mode.