Claude Code Health Checklist

Clientsflow team — Matt + Dani · dani-guides.pages.dev/checklist.html

🌅 Session Start — every time you open Claude Code

/start-session briefing printed automatically If not: run python3 ~/.claude/skills/start-session/scripts/session_start.py --skill
Read the branch + last commit in the briefing — know where you are
If working on a NEW task from a previous session: /clear first Don't carry stale context into a different task
Check CHANGELOG.md or PROJECT_STATE.md for what was done last time Especially important when picking up Matt's work or after a few days off
Verify you're on the right branch: git status

🌙 Session End — before closing VS Code

Run /finish-session This: tidies repo, updates CHANGELOG, commits, announces, and pushes your feature branch
Confirm Claude's "staged files" list looks right before it pushes
No secrets in the commit: Claude scans for them but double-check .env isn't staged
If it's been a long session (15+ prompts): check session-metrics.log for the turn count tail -1 ~/.claude/session-metrics.log
Feature branch pushed? Confirm: git status shows "nothing to commit"

📅 Weekly — every Monday morning (5 min)

Review session-metrics.log: how many turns per session? cat ~/.claude/session-metrics.log | tail -20 — if any session > 40 turns, your marathon habit is back
Check if any repos have unpushed commits: git log origin/main..HEAD in each project — if yes, review + push or open a PR
Pull latest on shared repos: git pull --ff-only in each shared project
Were you using Opus too much? If yes, most work should have been Sonnet. Opus for: novel architecture, 3+ failed Sonnet attempts, irreversible changes. Everything else: Sonnet.
Any stale feature branches older than a week? Either merge or delete them.

🚨 When things go wrong

Common issues

Claude seems confused about the codebase → /clear and start fresh. Don't "fix" within a confused session.
Hook error on startup → Check Python3 is installed: python3 --version. All hooks are fail-open — errors won't block.
Guard blocked a command I wanted → Read the reason. If it was a false positive, run the command directly in a terminal (outside Claude).
Git merge conflict → Don't panic. Tell Claude: "there's a merge conflict in X, help me resolve it." Never git reset --hard without thinking.
Rate limit hit → Switch model: /model sonnet. Or wait a few minutes. Marathon sessions burn the rate limit fastest.
Notifications not showing → Check System Settings → Notifications → VS Code. Allow notifications.

🧠 Model selection quick card

Situation	Model
Routine edits, refactors	Sonnet
Changelog / docs	Sonnet
Browser QA / screenshots	Sonnet
Research / search	Sonnet
Deploys, config	Sonnet
Bug survived 3+ attempts	Opus →
System design	Opus →
Payment / auth / security	Opus →
After Opus solves it	→ back to Sonnet

⚠️ Never change model mid-task — only at a /clear boundary.

🐙 Git quick reference

Start work on something new

git checkout -b feature/name
Then tell Claude what to do.

See what changed

git status — file overview
git diff — line-by-line

Oops — undo the last commit (not pushed)

git reset HEAD~1
(keeps files, just un-commits)

Get latest from remote

git pull --ff-only
(auto on /start-session)

Push your branch

Run /finish-session — it announces first, then pushes safely.

See recent history

git log --oneline -10

Emergency: what branch am I on?

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

Never do this

❌ git push --force
❌ git reset --hard without thinking
❌ rm -rf anything important

👁️ Stay-aware checks — monthly / when something feels off

Test the guard-bash hook still works: Run the test from the setup guide. If it passes, your safety guards are active.
Verify .env is not tracked in any public repo: git ls-files ~/.claude/.env should return nothing. claude-setup repo should stay private or be deleted.
Delete the claude-setup repo once Dani's setup is confirmed: gh repo delete matt-clientsflow/claude-setup (Matt runs this)
Review CLAUDE.md to make sure the rules still reflect how you want to work Edit ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md if you want to add or change a rule
Check that settings.json still has "model": "sonnet" as default cat ~/.claude/settings.json | python3 -m json.tool | grep model
Update Claude Code extension and VS Code to latest versions
API keys rotated? Update ~/.claude/.env on both machines If a key is revoked (GitHub secret scanning, etc.) — update it in .env and re-run any affected services

⭐ The 7 golden rules — memorize these

New task → /clear first. Marathon sessions are the #1 token sink and the #1 source of confused Claude behavior.
One task ≈ one session. Don't stack unrelated work in the same context.
Default model is Sonnet. Only switch to Opus when ≥2 hard signals (see quick card above). Always switch back.
Never push to main directly. Feature branches always. The guard will block it anyway, but internalize the habit.
End every session with /finish-session. This is the handoff ritual. Don't skip it.
Read the session briefing. /start-session tells you git state, last commit, open tasks. Actually read it before typing your first request.
Secrets stay in .env — never in commits or chat. The guard scans for them, but your eyes are the last line of defense.

System Health Checklist