Tools

Gotchas and workarounds for Claude Code tools.

File Operations

Use write_file, not create_file — create_file can report success without actually creating the file. write_file is reliable.

Bash has limited access — some filesystem operations fail silently. Verify results.

Tool Failures

Cycle tools, don't repeat or ask. If a tool fails, try alternatives:

• Read fails → Bash cat → Glob
• create_directory fails → Bash mkdir -p
• delete unavailable → user must delete manually

Don't repeat the same failing call. Don't ask the user what to do — investigate.