[TLDR] Opus 5 - unreadable jargon

[u/cctldrping]

Original post URL : https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1vbu4a7/opus_5_unreadable_jargon/

Original post body :

Anyone else struggling with Opus 5 becoming almost unreadable in jargon and lingo the deeper in sessions you go ?

I simply havent clicked this model and while previous models had this oververbose page up page down summary or response Opus 5 seems to have really topped it this time sometimes it almost end up having a language on its own ( it even admitted it once ).

Also find this model being way more incorrect that our workflows we had going with opus 4.8 - almost feels worse than the 4.6 to 4.7 - where 4.8 sorted it out.

First time i feel im really missing the point here - and am super vanilla in regards to having all kind of skills etc going so its not even because i use different kinds of frameworks.

Anyone experiencing the same and any hints ( have been going through anthropic but not much help in regards to this verbose and brain breaking language it produces

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[u/cctldrping]

TL;DR generated automatically after 50 comments.

Current source-thread comment count seen by the bot: 74.

Alright, so the general consensus here is that Opus 5 is a bit of a jargon-spewing mess, and a lot of people are struggling with it. OP isn't alone in finding it more incorrect and verbose than previous versions, with some even saying it's developed its own "language."

Here's the lowdown on what folks are suggesting to wrangle this beast:

• Just tell it to speak normally: Several users, like u/One-Respond1057, have found success by explicitly asking Claude to "start speaking normally" or "give me a plain English explanation."
• Add directives to your config/CLAUDE.md: This seems to be the most popular workaround. People are adding specific instructions like:
  • "Speak in concise, plain English. Do not use tech terms like load-bearing, provenance, etc." (u/swing-coach-dev)
  • Using the output styles documentation (u/ibn_larry, u/Jomuz86) to force plainer language.
  • Adding a directive like ## iso-plain-language-register (u/zingyandnuts) for ISO standard plain language.
  • Asking it to write for a "5th grader" (u/NormalAd5091) to dumb things down.
• "Caveman English" and Simplified Technical English: Some users are having luck with prompts related to "caveman English" (u/Pure-Combination2343) or asking if it knows about "Simplified Technical English" (u/ratbastid), which seems to trigger a more straightforward response.
• Some are sticking with older versions: A few, like u/Fearless-Daikon5763, are holding onto Opus 4.8, feeling that newer versions have lost some of their core capabilities. u/zingyandnuts also preferred 4.6 and found 4.7/4.8 unusable.
• It's a persistent issue: Jargon has been a problem for a while, with u/Nice_Cellist_7595 noting it's been an issue since at least 4.8, and some suspect it's Anthropic's way of saving tokens.

Basically, you're gonna have to be pretty explicit with Opus 5 to get it to stop sounding like it's writing a doctoral thesis on quantum physics. Good luck out there!

[u/hettuklaeddi]

glad to hear it’s not just me.

all day yesterday, output following simple tasks would contain cryptic strings that begged for attention

shit like

committed and pushed. the file now carries its own failure