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Claude Code Center of Excellence

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Welcome to the Agentic Age. No question is bad. No topic is off limits. We are here for you — to help every engineer ship faster, think bigger, and build with confidence.

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What's New · v2.1.197 — v2.1.209

What's New with Claude Code

Auto Mode & Models

Auto mode now GA on Bedrock — no opt-in flag
Opus 4.8 is the new Bedrock default
Subagents now run in the background by default

🔧

Slash Commands & MCP

/doctor is now a full setup checkup (/checkup alias)
/cd adds directory path suggestions
MCP request_timeout_ms & OAuth refresh fixes

Performance & Fixes

Memory leaks fixed: MCP stderr, LSP, edit cache
Session transcripts pruned up to 79x smaller
Bedrock streaming & AWS SSO auth fixes

Today's Topic

An Optimized Framework for Claude

Driving deterministic behavior with AI — same discipline, every engineer, every session.

📜

Behavioral Contract

How Claude acts. Standards and skills defined in .md files at different levels.

⚖️

Rules Enforcement

A framework for writing instructions. Claude takes instructions seriously when written a certain way.

🔍

Visible Reasoning

Are my instructions working? See when Claude isn't following so we can tweak the format.

Presented by — Dasha Tran, FDP Team
Pillar 1 • Behavioral Contract

How Claude Acts

Cascading, layered instructions so Claude knows how to act — standards defined in .md files at every level.

📝

Claude Wise — response discipline

Concise · Staff-Eng. Approved · Factual · Safe

🏗️

Project Aware — application context

Architecture · Known Issues · Complete

🌐

Domain Aware — domain context

Shared Knowledge · Ent. Patterns · Skills · Schema · Domain Docs

instruction cascade
~/.claude/CLAUDE.md   # universal
└── project/CLAUDE.md   # project
     └── @includes & Skills
          └── memory docs
               └── referenced docs   # domain
Pillar 2 • Rules Enforcement

Instructions That Steer Reasoning

Keyword semantics — Claude pays attention when instructions are unambiguous.

MUST
Non-negotiable
STOP
Halt & verify
NEVER
Hard prohibition

5 enforcement mechanisms — how you define the instruction set matters.

01

Priority Instruction

MUST pass before [trigger]

02

Hard Gate

Any unchecked → STOP

03

Trigger → Action

[condition] → [action]

04

Exact Template

- [ ] checklist item

05

Consequence

Do not proceed / ask user

The shift. Choosing how you phrase an instruction — not just what it says — is what makes Claude work through the rules instead of around them.
Pillar 3 • Visible Reasoning

Are My Instructions Working?

See your instructions drive AI decisions and tool usage in real time — so you can spot drift and tweak the format.

🔒

Gate Stamps

Visibly see how an instruction was used on each turn.

🔒[Gate:<name>-<rule>]<action>.

Hook Stamps

Shows when tools are used — e.g. an MCP server or Skill fired.

⚡[Hook: <tool>-<detail>].
Feedback loop. Stamps make invisible reasoning visible — the instrumentation that lets us debug and refine the contract.

Live Demo

Side-by-side recording — same prompt, same model, one with the framework and one without.

Results

Control vs. Framework Configured

Opus 4.8 on both — same model, same prompt. The only variable is the framework.

Control
  • Tunnel-visions to one repo
  • Ignores pre-existing documentation
  • Ships a breaking change
  • Zero visibility into reasoning decisions
Framework Configured
  • Autonomously investigates and discovers cross-repo concern
  • Finds and applies team's documented pattern
  • Writes 0 lines of code until all safety gates pass
  • Every claim stamped and auditable
4m 9s
Control • Time
1m 44s
Configured • Time
4.1k
Control • Tokens
4.2k
Configured • Tokens
Rework
Control • Result
Ship it
Configured • Result
Thank You

Questions?

Same AI discipline. Every engineer. Every session.