tweakcc-minimal

Minimal system prompts for Claude Code. 23 files changed, -47k chars (~10% of total), targeting the verbose files that override CLAUDE.md.

Quick start

# 1. Clone into ~/.tweakcc
git clone https://github.com/wassname/tweakcc-minimal ~/.tweakcc

# 2. Create patched binary (copy original, apply patches)
cp ~/.local/share/claude/versions/$(claude --version | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f1) \
   ~/.local/share/claude/versions/$(claude --version | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f1)-min
ln -sf ~/.local/share/claude/versions/*-min ~/.local/bin/claude
npx tweakcc --apply

# 3. Create symlink so both versions coexist
ln -sf ~/.local/share/claude/versions/*-min ~/.local/bin/claude-mn  # patched
ln -sf ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.63 ~/.local/bin/claude    # restore stock

Now claude = stock, claude-mn = minimal prompts.

Re-apply after edits

Edit .md files in system-prompts/, then:

cp ~/.tweakcc/native-binary.backup ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.44-min
npx tweakcc --apply

Disable auto-updates

CC auto-updates overwrite patched binaries:

// ~/.claude/settings.json
{ "autoUpdates": false }

Or DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1. If it fires, just re-apply.

Key files to edit

File	Controls
system-reminder-plan-mode-is-active-5-phase.md	Plan mode workflow (was overriding CLAUDE.md)
system-reminder-plan-mode-is-active-iterative.md	Iterative plan mode variant
system-prompt-main-system-prompt.md	Role definition, ~10 lines
system-prompt-doing-tasks.md	Task execution rules + tool hints
system-prompt-tone-and-style.md	Output style
system-prompt-tool-usage-policy.md	Parallel calls, tool preferences
system-prompt-hooks-configuration.md	Hook event definitions (don't drop events)

~200 files untouched (already 6-8 lines, tool descriptions, agent/skill prompts loaded on-demand).

What changed

Principle: System prompts provide tool access and safety rails. CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md provide workflow and conventions. Inspired by Pi's context engineering.

File	Before	After	Notes
plan-mode-5-phase	90	20	Defers to CLAUDE.md for workflow
plan-mode-iterative	61	18	Same
main-system-prompt	17	10	Pi-style minimal
doing-tasks	18	7	"Read first, follow CLAUDE.md"
learning-mode	80	11	Kept core, cut examples
insights-* (5 files)	170	45	Kept JSON schema, cut examples
hooks-configuration	163	33	Kept structure + all events, cut examples
mcp-cli	124	25	Kept commands, cut 6x repeated examples

Links

• tweakcc | CC system prompts source
• Pi system prompt | Armin's blog
• Other mods: bl-ue/tweakcc-system-prompts | yansircc/tweakcc-prompts | principled-claude-code
• Trail of Bits Claude Code Config