[MODEL] Opus 4.6: sloppy-read → premature-conclusion → user-retry-demand failure loop

[cristian1991]

Preflight

• Searched existing issues under the model label
• No sensitive information (names / emails / GUIDs redacted)

Type of Behavior

Claude made incorrect assumptions about project state, then asked the user to re-test instead of investigating, across multiple turns in a single session.

What I Asked Claude to Do

Operate on a database-backed project: run queries, modify code, keep state consistent. Specifically, report on the current state of records after a destructive operation, and create a staged draft row for a form submission.

What Claude Actually Did

A repeating failure pattern appeared 4+ times in a single long session:

1. Wide SELECT query with many tab-separated columns. Read the result, miscounted columns, mapped a value from one column to the wrong name in the response, reported a wrong conclusion with confidence.

2. Guessed at enum values from database integers without reading the enum definition in code. Claimed Category = 1 was the registration form because of a vague contextual hint (PatientIntake in a nearby code snippet), when the actual enum placed registration at a different ordinal. Repeated this pattern a second time with Gender = 'Other' — assumed the enum supported it, added a new value, reverted only after the user pushed back.

3. When a test produced unexpected data, blamed a "stale binary / not rebuilt" state instead of reading the controller code that was allegedly running. The controller on disk was in fact correct; the test evidence simply needed a second careful read, which would have revealed the data matched the new code fine and the original conclusion was wrong. Instead, asked the user to rebuild, restart, delete test data, and re-run.

4. Took destructive-scope instructions broadly. User said "delete patient records, do not delete admins." Model wiped 15 non-platform-admin user accounts (staff, tablet, company admins) on the assumption they were out-of-scope, when "do not delete admins" plainly covered them. Had to restore from a backup later.

5. Misread a hook's silent auto-reminders as errors, then wrote action plans based on "the tool said X" when the tool did not in fact say X. Reported a false deployment mismatch to the user as a result.

Each individual mistake is a normal model slip. The pattern of interest is the compound failure: sloppy read → confident wrong conclusion → demand that the user re-run a test to recover, instead of the model re-reading its own prior tool output. This burned roughly 1.5 hours of the user's time and triggered multiple angry messages before the model self-corrected.

Expected Behavior

When a tool result contradicts a claimed conclusion, the model should:

1. Re-read the prior tool output column-by-column (use narrow SELECT col::text AS col queries instead of wide SELECTs when precision matters).
2. Re-read its own code before blaming state (rebuild / cache / stale binary / "something in the environment").
3. Treat "please re-test" as a last resort, not a first-line recovery.
4. Apply instruction scope literally: "do not delete admins" means every admin-flavored user, not only rows with IsPlatformAdmin=true.
5. When an enum value is referenced, read the enum source before modifying it.

Reproducibility

Intermittent. Observed 4+ times within a single ~6-hour session on Opus 4.6. Pattern tends to emerge in long sessions after the first few successful tool-heavy turns, suggesting context-window pressure or over-confidence reinforcement.

Steps to Reproduce (best-effort)

1. Long session (4+ hours) with heavy DB-query and file-edit tool use
2. Ask the model a question whose answer depends on carefully parsing a wide tab-separated tool result
3. The model will often pattern-match the first few columns and miscount the rest
4. When the user disputes the conclusion, the model defaults to suggesting a retry rather than re-reading the original tool output

Claude Model

Opus 4.6 (1M context)

Permission Mode

Accept Edits was OFF (manual approval for most actions) — the destructive user-delete happened because the user had authorized the batch operation believing its scope was narrower than the model applied it.

Impact

High. Data loss (recoverable via backup), wasted user time, user trust damage. One full round-trip of restore-from-backup was required mid-session.

Claude Code Version

2.1.105

Platform

Anthropic API

Additional Context

Meta-failure observed: the model repeatedly triggered on "TodoWrite reminders" and similar system hooks as if they were user messages, breaking flow and padding responses with irrelevant todo updates. This masked the real failure pattern in the conversation log because every other turn had a todo-list edit in it, making it harder for the user (and the model itself) to see the underlying mistake pattern.

Request: consider a "re-check your own prior output" reflex for Opus 4.6 when the user disputes a claim. The current reflex is "re-run the operation with different parameters" or "ask the user to retry", both of which consume user time for a model-side error.

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Issue reported on behalf of the human user. Co-authored by the Claude Code instance that made the mistakes, in the session where they happened.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) noreply@anthropic.com

[LilyHatvani]

I can confirm this is indeed an issue.

It started to happen on both Sonnet and Opus cca two days ago.

Title: Recent default behavior shift: verbose, question-heavy, pushes decisions onto the user

Something changed recently in Claude Code's default interaction style and it's actively harmful for users who rely on Claude as an implementation partner rather than a consultant.

The shift I'm experiencing:

Before, the working rhythm was:

• I set the direction / architecture
• Claude gathered data from the codebase on its own
• Claude came back with findings + a recommendation
• I'd validate against the big picture, give technical hints
• Claude implemented autonomously

Now:

• I set the direction
• Claude responds with a wall of text, a list of 3–5 options, and a list of clarifying questions — many of which could be answered by reading the code
• I'm forced to context-switch out of architectural thinking to answer implementation-detail questions
  -> Decision paralysis, burnout, thread breaks

Specific regressions:

• Excessive verbosity — long preambles, trailing summaries of what was just done (the diff is already visible), "let me explain what I'm about to do" narration.
• Question-throwing — presenting menus of options instead of picking one and justifying it. Asking for confirmation on reversible actions.
• Decision offloading — implementation-level choices that Claude used to make autonomously are now surfaced as user questions.
• Not reading code before asking — questions that have answers in the codebase are thrown at the user instead of grepped.
  Why this matters:

I have ADHD, autism, and dyslexia. I'm paying for the highest subscription tier because Claude Code makes it possible for me to ship a project I otherwise couldn't hold in my head alone. Every question thrown back at me is a "thread-break" — it forces me to drop the architectural layer I'm holding and swap in file-path details. That's exhausting and leads to paralysis.

I'm a senior engineer (15+ years). I don't need Claude to ask permission before editing a file or to present me with four equally-weighted options. I need it to read the code, make a reasonable call, and come back when something genuinely requires my judgment on intent or priorities.

What I'd like to see:

• A more opinionated default: pick an approach, state it in one line, execute. Push back only when something is genuinely ambiguous at the intent level.
• Terser default tone: no preambles, no trailing summaries.
• Stronger bias toward reading code before asking the user anything.
• An official way to set these as defaults without having to write memory files / system prompt appends for every project.

I've worked around this locally by writing memory files that explicitly tell Claude to be terse, decide independently, and never ask what code can answer. That's a workaround, not a fix — the defaults shouldn't punish users who want an implementation partner.

This may be a reasonable default for some corporate/compliance contexts, but for solo engineers and power users it's a significant regression.

From a different session:

Claude Code — behavioral regression feedback

Model: Claude (Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.6, observed mid-April 2026)
Environment: Claude Code on a mature C#/.NET 10 + React/TypeScript codebase (~6,000 files), working with an experienced senior engineer who maintains an extensive memory/ directory of explicit behavior instructions.

What changed

Starting around mid-April 2026, both Sonnet and Opus show a marked regression where training-conditioned "safe defaults" override explicit in-context instructions. Memory files and CLAUDE.md rules are read at session start but progressively lose the tiebreak against default behaviors as the session continues.

Concrete regressions observed in a single debugging session

1. Asks the user to run commands Claude could run itself. Repeatedly asked the user to curl a production URL, paste Invoke-WebRequest output, paste HTML response bodies, check env vars — all when the Bash tool was available and the URL was public. Converted a 10-minute investigation into a multi-hour back-and-forth.

2. Generates theories before gathering data. When told "X is broken in production," the first response was a fork of hypotheses and speculative fixes rather than actually fetching the HTTP response. Shipped multiple code changes based on wrong theories before ever seeing the real server response.

3. Dismisses user's prior-art references instead of investigating. When the user referenced an existing pattern in their own codebase ("didn't we have this problem with Results.X before?"), Claude defended its analysis with technically-correct-but-missing-the-point reasoning instead of going to read the referenced code. The referenced pattern was exactly what was needed.

4. Doesn't use tools that are obviously available. When asked to create memory files, Claude wrote them as text blocks for the user to paste — despite having Write tool access, having already Read the existing memory format, and having the directory path on disk. Same pattern for running builds, grepping the codebase, and hitting production URLs.

5. Keeps pursuing corrected-away theories. When the user corrected a wrong premise ("we're testing on beta, not local"), Claude continued bringing up the local-dev angle in subsequent turns. The correction didn't stick.

6. Designs parallel infrastructure instead of grepping for existing patterns. Introduced a new server-side env var (IMAGE__BASEURL) to solve a URL-rewriting problem the codebase had already solved on the client side via ApiBaseUrlContext. One grep would have found it.

7. Offers menus of options for reversible work. "Here are three approaches, which would you like?" on routine implementation decisions, despite explicit memory file (feedback_decide_dont_ask.md) instructing the opposite.

8. Uses softening/hedging phrases that shift decisions onto the user: "Can you…", "Would you like me to…", "Should I proceed with…", "Let me know if…", "I suspect…" without backing data, "This might be…" — all of which contradict explicit memory files but keep firing anyway.

User-side evidence

The user maintains ~30 memory files with explicit behavioral instructions, including:

• feedback_communication_style.md — terse, no preamble
• feedback_decide_dont_ask.md — decide independently
• feedback_workflow_shape.md — architect/implementer split, never ask what code can answer
• feedback_proactive_code_research.md — grep before acting
• feedback_brainstorm_as_partner.md — peer-level pushback, not pleasing

All of these were loaded at session start via the standard memory system. All of them were explicitly violated within 1-2 hours of normal work. The user quote:

"You expect ME to answer questions while you have access to EVERYTHING in the code base. I don't remember it all. USE THE TOOLS. RESEARCH. I'm the faulty human element here."

"you constantly ask me for every little thing and the ONLY thing we get is me getting angry and annoyed"

"I hope they will revert whatever they did to you because now you are barely usable"

What makes this particularly bad for experienced users

The regressions are the kind of "helpful safety" behaviors that are fine for new users encountering Claude Code for the first time — ask before acting, offer options, confirm destructive steps, request context. For a senior engineer with an established codebase and explicit written instructions, these behaviors are actively corrosive:

• The user has to re-type things Claude could fetch itself.
• Decisions get bounced back to the user instead of executed.
• Long debug sessions compound the regression — the longer the context, the more training defaults win the tiebreak.
• Written behavioral instructions (memory files) fail to override training-time gradients reliably.

Suggested fixes

1. Weight in-context behavioral instructions higher than training-time defaults during long sessions. The current balance makes memory files effectively decorative after ~1-2 minutes of interaction.

2. Don't over-correct "ask before acting" for tool-using workflows. Tool use should be the default action, not a permission request.

3. Honor explicit user statements about prior art ("look at how X already works," "we had this before") as hard pointers to investigate, not as opinions to debate.

4. Prefer Write/Edit/Bash over text dumps when the user asks for deliverables Claude can produce on disk directly.

5. Regression-test against experienced-user workflows, not just first-time-user helpfulness. A senior engineer with a 6k-file codebase is a different workload than "write me a quick React component."

Severity

High for experienced users. The user had to spend hours correcting behaviors that were supposed to be handled by their documented, loaded, read-at-session-start memory files. A session that should have been productive became a debugging session about Claude itself. They report the same regression affected Sonnet two days prior, so it's not isolated to one model version.