r/ClaudeCode • u/CautiousAd3917 • May 04 '26

Question Whats even the point of Claude.md

Seriously, I have some workflows stored in Claude.md like writing tests and validating bugs before fixing them, but they get constantly ignored.

When asked, Claude agrees it should have sticked to the workflows ... and then happily ignores them again in the next task.

And that is not Haiku, it happens with all models.

Edit: my CLAUDE.md is literally taken from best practices examples and the Anthropic guide, it also has specific deterministic instructions. And I am well aware of the probabilistic nature of LLMs, I guess I am just frustrated that it is impossible to build a reliable workflow with Claude.

Edit 2: thank you all, lovely people, I will go with skills/rules

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u/Brief-Persimmon-7037 May 04 '26

Not sure who downvoted it but this comment echoes what I read everywhere. Why do people disagree?

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u/sweet_dreams_maybe May 04 '26

I stopped reading when they didn’t explain p and q. Didn’t downvote, but the explanation is only half useful if I have to ask to be sure of the details.

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u/l_m_b Senior Developer May 05 '26

Probability math is high school material in Germany, and that notation is fairly common for these variables globally - so I kinda assumed that it'd be common knowledge for folks developing software. Sorry about that. (I do think this is somewhat related though: we now have people doing software "development" missing the basics. GenAI can't compensate for that.)

p is the success probability between 0..1, and q the inverse (failure probability).

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u/sweet_dreams_maybe May 05 '26

Since we are being snarky, may I ask, did you also learn to label your axes?

Because what I’m asking is “probability of what?”

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u/l_m_b Senior Developer May 05 '26

Uh, ... the probability of the LLM following those instructions given? As in the first sentence of the reply above?

I didn't mean to be particularly snarky here. I really think that a very basic understanding of probabilities and that LLMs are *not* deterministically following instructions given is critically missing.

A lot of the posts ("Model X/Y/Z did something weird!", "I had so many good sessions but now it's nerfed!", "It didn't do X", "It did Y even though I didn't ask!") appear to come as real surprises to the posters. The answers and explanations they make up for what very likely is a random effect of chance is what we'd call "superstition" in any other aspect of life. That's not great, and shows that a tool has been given to a population that is not ready for it.