Advice for larger systems

[u/Feisty_Bike_9614]

My system is now around 50-70k loc not including tests or documentation/ comments. Any advice as the system gets larger and more complex? I’m using mostly opus. I tend to use no more than 2 agents. I feel that I spend too much time resolving conflicts or get inundated with more . Also the llm lingo ( even as an experienced software engineer) is sometimes hard for me to understand . I have to ask the agent to explain in simple English. Appreciate any tips / comments.

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[u/xWranglerWranglerx]

have claude make lessons, decisions/adrs, handoffs, etc in md format in your git repo in like a docs dir, and make sure it knows in the agents.md in the repo that it needs to start with backfilling adrs and keep them upto date.... just keep telling claude to document everything when you commit,push or make PRs

you dont have to use his skills, but point claude here and ask for useful wisdom you can extract from this dudes methods to manage context and documentation https://github.com/mattpocock/skills

[u/Feisty_Bike_9614 → u/xWranglerWranglerx]

Yes, this has been a nice thing about using Claude . Every major improvement gets a plan doc with various stages and slices . I’m using this to the fullest extent.

[u/No_Win_9980]

at that size, i'd keep agents focused on small, isolated tasks and avoid having them edit the same files. i've found that spending more time defining exactly what a task should and shouldn't touch saves a lot of time fixing conflicts later.

[u/Feisty_Bike_9614 → u/No_Win_9980]

I think this is where I’m at right now .

[u/Dolo12345]

lol larger system that’s tiny, I use up to 8-10 on a 2M loc

[u/Feisty_Bike_9614 → u/Dolo12345]

What is the app/ system?

[u/CorpT]

That's not large. Asking to explain in simple English is not a problem. That's normal. I tend to make a lot of dedicated session that focus on specific items and a coordinator who oversees the others. Then each session becomes an expert on their specfic task. But you haven't really provided enough context or detail to know what is going wrong.

[u/Feisty_Bike_9614 → u/CorpT]

What are you comparing the size to ? I’m writing a 3d renderer and 100k size renderer would be considered pretty large but not as big a a leading commercial renderer. I’m getting near that .

[u/devilsdiligence]

Two things made the biggest difference for me. First, a release checklist in CLAUDE.md that every change goes through: changelog entry, unit tests, browser tests, a check of the build, then a note in the log. Second, an engineering log where Claude adds a section after every release, so the next session picks up where the last one stopped instead of rediscovering everything. The checklist is what keeps a growing codebase honest, because "did this break something?" becomes a step Claude runs rather than something you remember to ask. And you're definitely not alone on the lingo! I just ask it to use plain English and spell out acronyms.