Catch Claude Ignoring Your Rules With One Word: the Free Captain Skill
One rule makes Claude call you Captain in every reply. The first reply without it means your rules have slipped, and a free skill warns you the moment it happens so you can start fresh
You give Claude your rules at the start: no emojis, ask before deleting, keep it short. An hour later it is ignoring them, and you only notice when something goes wrong. The longer a chat runs, the less attention Claude pays to what came first. Anthropic even has a name for it: context rot.
Here's the one-word trick that shows you the moment it happens, and the free skill that sets it up for you.
How the Captain check works
- One rule goes into your CLAUDE.md, next to your other rules: call me "Captain" in every reply.
- While Claude keeps saying "Aye, Captain", it is still reading the rules at the top of your chat.
- The first reply without "Captain" is your alarm: your rules have slipped out of focus.
- You type /clear (or open a new chat). Claude reads your rules again from the top, and it's back to following them.
Free, for your email
Get the full setup steps + the copy-paste setup prompt
The rest of this guide (4 more sections, 3 copy-paste prompts) opens right here. The setup prompt, one paste into Claude that sets it all up, comes by email only. Use your real address.
Unlocks: Get the skill · No Claude Code? Do it by hand · Good to know · Sources
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