How I Plan, Build, and Run Loops with Claude Code in 40 Minutes | Thariq Shihipar
The exact goals, workflows, and planning techniques Thariq uses to get more ambitious work done with Claude Code.
Dear subscribers,
Today, I want to share a new episode with Thariq Shihipar.
Thariq works on the Claude Code team, and I’ve wanted to see how he builds for a long time. In our episode, he showed how to use /goal to keep Claude working, how he plans with Claude to remove unknowns before building, and how he runs a team of agents in Slack. He also shared why his team cut Claude Code’s system prompt by 80% and how he creates polished launch videos with Claude.
Watch now on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.
Thariq and I talked about:
(00:00) Goals, loops, and workflows to make Claude work longer
(04:48) Live demo: Creating a polished video with Claude
(08:17) Plan by removing unknowns before you build
(14:32) How Anthropic uses HTML artifacts for planning
(18:35) Running parallel Claude tasks through Slack
(27:34) Using separate creator and verifier sub-agents
(31:08) How Thariq stays focused while Claude works in parallel
(34:07) Why Anthropic cut Claude Code’s system prompt by 80%
(37:01) How to become more technical when AI writes the code
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Top 10 takeaways I learned from this episode
When a better AI model is released, the first thing you should try is to remove instructions. Thariq and the Claude Code team cut Claude Code’s system prompt by 80% because hard rules and examples were constraining newer models. When a new model is released, audit your CLAUDE.md and skills to remove deterministic instructions.
Plan with Claude to discover and remove unknowns. Before building his one-shot video workflow, Thariq asked Claude to explain how voice transcription tools like Whisper could fail. This helped him clarify the plan before getting Claude to create the video. Perhaps the most important learning here is that he actually reads the plan manually instead of just trusting AI.
Use /goal only if you have a verifiable finish line. I asked Claude to “/goal Build me a great game” and the results were…not great. Thariq shared how to use /goal to create polished videos with Claude by providing a verifiable end state (e.g., a rendered video). Here’s the exact prompt he used to create the video in one shot: