Day 4 Exercises: The Process

Setup

• Claude Code installed and working with a CLAUDE.md file (from Days 2-3)
• A project with git history (for the stagnation check). At least 2-3 months of history is ideal.
• Example steel thread artifacts available as reference (info.md, design.md, tasks.md templates)

Exercise 1: Define and Execute a Steel Thread (30 minutes)

Objective: Experience the full steel thread lifecycle on a real task.

Instructions:

1. Choose a small, bounded task in your project. Examples: add a new API endpoint, write tests for an untested module, extract duplicated logic into a shared helper.
2. Write an info.md for the steel thread:
   • Objective (one sentence)
   • Context (why this matters)
   • Scope (what is in, what is explicitly out)
   • Acceptance criteria (how to verify completion)
3. Write a brief design.md:
   • Approach (how will this be implemented?)
   • Key decisions (what choices are being made and why?)
   • Risks (what could go wrong?)
4. Execute the steel thread using Claude Code. Follow the session lifecycle:
   • Read your CLAUDE.md and the steel thread docs
   • Plan the session (which part of the task will you tackle?)
   • Execute with the agent
   • Verify the output (do tests pass? does the acceptance criteria check out?)
   • Update the steel thread status
5. Mark the steel thread as done. Resist the urge to keep improving.