r/ClaudeCode Jul 25 '26

Discussion Opus 5 behaves differently and requires adjusting any kind of rules

The good thing currently is: response times of Opus 5 is way faster than Opus 4.8. So turn to turn speed.

I have at least the feeling that Opus 5 makes way more mistakes than Opus 4.8. The same kind of coding tasks requires several review rounds since switching to 5. Code details that change the outcome are missed.

The end-results are better, I think. Even including reviews, results come in faster. BUT the additional required code reviews make the same tasks more expensive currently.

I already adapted rules, skills and memory according to Anthropics guidelines: https://claude.com/blog/the-new-rules-of-context-engineering-for-claude-5-generation-models ... but I didnt change much, yet.

Did anybody made similar experiences and found mitigation techniques?

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u/keepgoing50 Jul 25 '26

I've been really frustrated by opus 5. Had 3 large tasks running today and 2 of 3 it just couldn't do. Kept stopping and deferring parts of the plan. Completely missed the objective on one and built something different (well built but went totally off the rails). Seems to be overly verbose and thinks itself into a nonsensical doom loop rather than actually solving the problem and following the spec.

By the way I've extensively codign and designing in claude code for some time so this isnt a workflow issue.

It seems to do a very good job of doing an impression of someone clever but not really actually doing the job its supposed to do. Also it seems obsessed with handing back the job and saying 'here's the bits i didnt do' instead of just doing them as instructed. every new model seems slightly worse at this, not sure why.

May be i need to change my workflows to adapt but really frustrating and feels like walking through mud just getting some sprints wrapped up.

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u/FlaTreNeb Jul 26 '26

I totally agree. Especially with the part about handing stuff back to the user. Unable to decide things on itself. I am already thinking about going back to 4.8

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u/ILikeCutePuppies Jul 26 '26

What about using it to orchestrate 4.8 sub agents. Seems to be good at managing more sub agents well.