22 Rules to Stop Wasting Tokens with Claude

Rule 1. Use Medium effort. Never Max. → Low for grammar, reformatting and translations. → Medium for everything else. → High for a super-ambitious work. → Never Extra. Never Max. Rule 2. Save your free reset for a bad day. Rule 3. Use Opus 5.5. Every chat. Never Fable. Rule 4. Never change model between turns. Rule 5. Never come back to an old chat. Rule 6. Questions with "No web search. No files." Rule 7. Plan in text. Ask for the file last. Rule 8. Highlight. Never ask for a full redo. Rule 9. Load your apps on demand. Rule 10. Paste this specific prompt into Claude instructions. Rule 11. Crop every screenshot. Convert every PDF. Rule 12. Pause every scheduled task you don't read. Rule 13. Start every task with "ask me questions." Rule 14. Put all your asks in one message. Rule 15. Speak your prompt. Don't type. Rule 16. Never correct Claude. Start over. Rule 17. Stick to one topic/goal per chat. Rule 18. Keep your instructions under 2,000 words. Rule 19. Put every file you reuse in a Project. Rule 20. In Claude Code: one task, then /clear. Rule 21. Split your day into 3 sessions. Rule 22. Ask Claude for images. But rarely.