Updated April 2026

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Work smarter.

A curated playbook to use Claude more efficiently, so you hit limits less often and ship more in the same time.

34 tips 6 categories Verified from official docs

Most impactful tip

The #1 mistake: never clearing context

If you never use /compact or /clear in Claude Code, you're burning 3 to 5x more tokens than necessary. Your context grows linearly, but every turn re-sends it entirely.

Read the full tip

Browse

By category

Six focused areas covering everything from context management to prompt caching.

Context Management

8 tips, highest impact

The biggest win. Know when to reset and when to keep. It can 2-3x your session.

Prompting

How to ask better questions without burning tokens. Structure, style, length.

Model Selection

Sonnet vs Opus vs Haiku vs Design: the real decision tree. Save 50 to 80%.

Timing and Sessions

Peak hours drain 3 to 5x faster. Learn when to work and when to wait.

Claude Code

Parallel tool calls, grep vs cat, efficient file targeting, and more.

API and Caching

90% discounts hiding in plain sight. Prompt caching explained simply.

Start here

Most impactful tips

If you only read five, make them these.

/compact before context gets heavy

Context Saves 40 to 60% tokens HIGH

Use Haiku for classification & routing tasks

Model 80% cheaper than Sonnet HIGH

Enable prompt caching on repeated system prompts

API 90% discount on cache hits HIGH

Shift heavy sessions to weekends

Timing Weekends = always off-peak HIGH

Use grep, not cat, for file exploration

Code Avoid reading 5000 lines for 20 you need HIGH

Category

Context management

The single biggest lever. If you do only one thing, do this one.

/compact before context gets heavy

Saves 40-60% tokens on long sessions · HIGH confidence

/clear when switching tasks

Don't carry auth debug context into UI work

CLAUDE.md pattern: constraints, not tutorials

What to include, what to skip, with concrete examples

Project knowledge files beat pasting inline

Files ingested once, not re-tokenized per turn

When fresh chat beats continuing

After ~50 turns, degradation cost exceeds resume cost

See all 8 context tips

Category

Timing & sessions

Claude drains your session limit 3 to 5x faster during peak hours. Plan around it.

Avoid weekdays 5-11 AM PT (peak window)

Session limits drain 3 to 5x faster during US West business hours

Weekends are always off-peak

Your best productivity window. Save heavy work for Saturday mornings.

How the 5-hour session rolling window works

It is not a fresh bucket at the start of each session, it is a rolling 5h window

Weekly reset timing (Sunday 05:00 local)

Plan around it: avoid starting long projects Sunday night

See all timing tips

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