Boris Cherny's CLAUDE.md Template: Six Operational Areas, Under 300 Lines — From the Claude Code Creator

Glen Rhodes (documenting Boris Cherny's approach)·high signal

Boris Cherny (Anthropic engineer who built Claude Code) uses a CLAUDE.md template structured around six areas: plan mode defaults, subagent delegation strategy, self-improvement loop (what to log after each session), verification requirements before claiming completion, elegance checks, and autonomous bug-fix rules. The guiding principle is to write only what Claude would get wrong without the file — not boilerplate, not obvious rules. Target is under 300 lines total, with a preference for explicit behavioral contracts over general guidance.