Boris's 6 tips

After using Opus 4.7 himself for several weeks, Boris Cherny summarized 6 ways to boost Claude Code productivity.

• Auto mode: Safe commands get auto-approved, while only risky commands pause for confirmation. You can run long tasks more autonomously without --dangerously-skip-permissions, and it's available on Max / Teams / Enterprise. In the CLI, use Shift+Tab to switch between Ask permissions → Plan mode → Auto mode.
• /fewer-permission-prompts: Scans your session history to find safe bash and MCP commands that repeatedly trigger permission prompts, and recommends candidates to add to the allowlist.
• Recaps: When you step away from a long session and come back, the agent gives you a short summary of what it did and what's next. Can be turned off in /config.
• Focus mode: A CLI mode that hides intermediate work and shows only the final result. Toggle it on and off with /focus.
• Effort level: Instead of a thinking budget, Opus 4.7 uses adaptive thinking, adjustable via low · medium · high · xhigh · max to control the speed-to-intelligence tradeoff.
• Verification loop: You must give Claude a way to verify its own results. For backend, run server/E2E tests; for frontend, use the Claude Chromium extension; for desktop apps, use Computer Use. Boris connects testing → /simplify → PR using patterns like Claude do blah blah /go.

The key is to run longer tasks more autonomously, but always attach a verifiable loop at the end. Boris says this combination gave him a sense of 2-3x productivity on Opus 4.7 compared to before.