Lesson 1.4 · 40 minChecking Claude's work

What you will have

The student has a written five-point review checklist in docs/review-checklist.md, and has used it once to find and fix the problems in a prepared task.

Video

The video for this lesson is not recorded yet.

Prompts used in this lesson

Part 2 — What changed: reading a diff

Purpose: Brightside is now open on Saturdays, and visitors should see that.

Context: The opening hours appear on the mini-site in practice/mini-site/.

Done looks like: Everywhere the opening hours are shown, they read "Monday to Saturday, 8:00–18:00".

Constraints: Change nothing except the opening hours text.

Part 3 — Why: ask for a plain-language explanation

Explain every change you just made as a list: file, what changed, and why it was needed for my request. Plain language, no code. If you changed anything I did not ask for, say so.

Part 4 — Proof: make Claude show evidence

Prove that no page still shows the old hours. Search every file in practice/mini-site/ for "Friday" and for "Saturday" and show me the exact command you ran and its full output.

Do along

Work on your own project. Pause after Part 5 and do steps 1 to 5, watch Part 6, then finish with steps 6 to 8.

1. Pause after Part 5. Save the checklist first. In Claude Code:

Purpose: I want my review checklist in the project so I use it every time you finish a task.

Context: Five points, each a question: Files (are the changed files the ones I expected?), Size (is the amount of change in proportion to the request?), Explanation (can you explain each change in plain language, and does it match the diff?), Evidence (have I seen real output or the real page?), Facts (does every name, number, price and link come from me or my files?).

Done looks like: docs/review-checklist.md with those five questions as a numbered list and nothing else.

Constraints: Create only that file.

1. Copy price-list.txt from the lesson materials into practice/mini-site/. Commit both new files (checkpoint please, then approve) so the next diff starts clean.
2. Type /clear. Give Claude the task exactly as written. It is a deliberately weak request:

Add our prices to the Services page using practice/mini-site/price-list.txt. Tidy up anything else you notice while you're in there.

1. If Claude asks questions first, answer "Use your best judgement" (for this exercise only).

2. When Claude reports that it is finished, do not reply yet. Create a notes file, practice/mini-site/REVIEW.md, and answer the five checklist questions in it:

   • Files: run /diff. Which changed files did you expect?
   • Size: note the added and removed counts per file.
   • Explanation: send the "explain every change" prompt from Part 3.
   • Evidence: did the report include real output? Open the Services page yourself.
   • Facts: open price-list.txt beside the Services page. Write down everything on the page that is not in the file.
3. Watch Part 6 and compare with your notes.
4. Have it fixed. As the business owner, you now make the decisions. Fill in your own currency:

Purpose: The Services page must show only prices I have confirmed.

Context: I reviewed your last change against practice/mini-site/price-list.txt. Decisions: the currency is [your currency]. "Deep clean, 3+ bedrooms" shows the text "Price on request" and no number. Maria has confirmed the other prices are final. The oven clean add-on is listed under Deep clean as an optional extra.

Done looks like: Every price on the Services page matches the file exactly, in my currency. No other number appears. Only the Services page (and the stylesheet, if the price layout needs it) differs from the last commit.

Constraints: Undo any change you made to other files. Invent nothing.

When finished, show me the list of changed files and the output of a search for each price in the page.

1. Review again with the checklist. When all five points pass, type checkpoint please and commit with the message "Lesson 1.4: prices added and reviewed".

Check your work

1. Open docs/review-checklist.md. Expected: five numbered questions.
2. Open practice/mini-site/REVIEW.md. Expected: an answer under each of the five points, and under Facts at least two items that were on the page but not in the file.
3. Open the Services page. Expected: five prices from the file in your currency, and "Price on request" for Deep clean, 3+ bedrooms.
4. Run git diff --stat HEAD~1. Expected: only the Services page, possibly the stylesheet, and your notes file.
5. Run git status. Expected: nothing to commit.

Common problems

• /diff shows nothing. → Everything is already committed, or the folder is not a Git repository. → To see the last commit's changes, run git show --stat in the terminal.
• /diff shows many unexpected files. → You had uncommitted work. → Commit before giving a task, so each diff shows one task.
• Claude asked about the currency and the blank price before starting. → Good behaviour; two holes found for you. → Answer "use your best judgement" and find the rest yourself.
• You cannot tell whether a change is related. → Ask: "For each changed file, quote the sentence of my request that required it."
• The explanation and the diff disagree. → Trust the diff, and ask Claude to reconcile the two.

Homework

About 25 minutes, after the lesson. Nothing later depends on it. Notes go in practice/homework/1.4/. Do not touch practice/mini-site/; lesson 1.6 needs it as it is. At the end, commit with checkpoint please and the message "Homework 1.4" (no tag).

1. A second review. Write a proper brief for one small change to practice/briefs/services-brief.html from lesson 1.1, for example a fourth service that you name and describe yourself. When Claude reports, do not reply until you have answered the five checklist questions in review-2.md, using /diff, the "explain every change" prompt and a proof request of your own. Done when: all five answers are written, and the Facts answer says where each new word on the page came from.
2. Close the holes. Rewrite the weak price request from this lesson as a four-part brief that leaves none of the holes from Part 6 open. Save it as price-brief.md; do not send it. Done when: for each of the six holes on the answer sheet, you can point to the sentence in your brief that closes it.
3. Warning signs. Reread your REVIEW.md. In signs.md, write one line for each of the three warning signs: did it appear in your trap run, and where did you see it? Done when: three lines, each "yes, here: …" or "no".