openzoo: Instructions file for Claude Code

Project Wiki

Before starting any task, read .claude/wiki.md (if it exists) for project-specific decisions, constraints, and context that must not be violated. Update it when you learn new non-obvious facts.

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CLAUDE.md

Editing safety rules

Never mass-delete code. When modifying an existing file:

• Default to the Edit tool (or MultiEdit) for surgical, line-targeted changes. Write overwrites the entire file — only use it for files you are creating from scratch.
• If you believe code should be removed, first explain WHAT will be removed and WHY in your response, then propose the smallest possible deletion. Wait for the user to confirm before removing >30 lines in a single edit.
• A "simplification" or "cleanup" pass is not a license to drop functionality. If the file currently exports/uses a function, helper, or branch, that behavior must remain unless the user has explicitly asked you to remove it.
• Do not rewrite a file "from scratch" to make it shorter. Refactoring within the existing structure is almost always safer.
• If a file fails to compile or a test breaks after your edit, fix the edit — don't delete the failing code.

Why this matters: the user has lost work twice from large Write operations that stripped out functioning code while pursuing a smaller-feeling refactor. The cost of being conservative on deletion is one extra round-trip; the cost of being wrong is hours of redo work.

IDE harness — navigation tools

This project runs in Claude IDE: a live repo index + the claude-ide MCP server are wired automatically.

Orientation: call project_overview first in a fresh session (codebase map + index stats + tool list). The map also lives at .claude/MAP.md.

Navigation — prefer these over Grep/Glob for code structure:

• find_file({query}) — resolve a partial filename to real paths; use before Read/Edit on a file you haven't seen this session
• search_code({query, path?}) — ranked "where is X handled?" across symbols/paths/summaries, returns line ranges
• find_definition({symbol}) / find_references({symbol}) — exact definition & caller sites (comment/string-stripped index, not text grep)
• get_section({path, symbol}) — read ONE function/class body instead of the whole file; self-heals if the file changed
• list_symbols({path?}) — what a file/dir exposes, without reading it
• read_exact({path, anchor? | start_line/end_line?}) — a span as verbatim bytes (no line-number prefixes) for building Edit old_string; after a "String to replace not found" failure, pass the failed old_string as anchor to get the real bytes back