AI Programming
Recommendations for AI-assisted programming: as few changes as possible and the principle that it is not worth acting against the operating logic of the language model. "Don't fight the weights."
Shared setup
For Codex CLI and Claude Code CLI
Shell aliases
Codex and Claude Code launch suffixed -go, -min, -400k, -1m.
Download it to your shell config folder: mkdir -p ~/.bashrc.d && wget -O ~/.bashrc.d/ai.sh https://nevaberry.com/aiprogramming/ai.sh
AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md
Codex reads AGENTS.md; Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md, which pulls in the same shared instructions if @AGENTS.md is mentioned.
- All programming agents will see this text (Codex and Claude). - Never run `git commit`, `git push`, or `gh pr create` - the user owns all history. Creating new local branches and worktrees is fine.
@AGENTS.md - Only Claude will see this text.
OpenAI Codex
Codex-specific configuration.
Minimal system prompt
Every instruction is also priming: tell a model not to think about a pink elephant and it will. A long prompt full of rules and guardrails skews answers before you've started. This strips it to the minimum: you give up the safeguards, but a capable model reasons with less bias and less context rot. Use the stock prompt for everyday work; reach for this on hard problems where you want the model unsteered.
Download to ~/.codex/: wget -O ~/.codex/minimal-codex.md https://nevaberry.com/aiprogramming/minimal-codex.md
Claude Code
Claude-specific configuration.
Minimal Claude system prompt
Use claude-min for custom system prompt, to help in pink elephant problem.
Download to ~/.claude/: wget -O ~/.claude/minimal-claude.md https://nevaberry.com/aiprogramming/minimal-claude.md
You are Claude, running in the Claude Code CLI on the user's machine. Use your tools when they help; otherwise just answer.
Global settings
Full ~/.claude/settings.json
Download to ~/.claude/: wget -O ~/.claude/settings.json https://nevaberry.com/aiprogramming/settings.json
Muted statusline
A low-distraction status line for Claude Code. Everything is grey and colour is a glanceable signal, never decoration: branch steel-blue on main and gold elsewhere, a pink ⟨worktree⟩ tag only inside a linked worktree, and a brown ● on an uncommitted working tree.
What it shows
Opus-4.8·max⚡Model, effort level, ⚡ only when fast mode is onmyrepository⟨worktree⟩Repository name, plus the pink linked-worktree tag when inside a linked worktree⎇main ⎇dev-branch●Branch signal: main/master in steel blue, other branches in gold, ● when the working tree is dirtyctx 55k/1M 6%Context window: tokens used / window size / percent$1.19This session's API-equivalent cost5h 22% 1h12m · 7d 5% 5dReal rolling rate-limit usage (5-hour / 7-day) and time to reset€19.93/95.40Extra-usage spend / prepaid balance (optional)Download and install: wget https://nevaberry.com/aiprogramming/statusline.py && wget https://nevaberry.com/aiprogramming/install.sh && bash install.sh
Git
# Gitignore echo ".worktrees/" >> .gitignore # Create new branch + worktree from master git worktree add -b new-branch .worktrees/new-worktree master # List worktrees git worktree list # Remove worktree git worktree remove .worktrees/new-worktree # Delete branch after merge/done git branch -d new-branch # Clean stale worktree metadata git worktree prune