File of the day

A Claude Code rule that writes down an idea mid-work instead of starting on it

Slava Sazhin 22 October 2026 5 min read

Claude Code writes an idea, mistake or task you mention mid-work as one line in plan.md and goes back to the work instead of starting on it.

Today's file is a rule for Claude Code for the thoughts that come up in the middle of work. You are changing the opening hours on your site and think "we should take bookings online", or you notice that yesterday's card payments in the report don't match the bank. Tell Claude, and it drops the work at hand to start on the new thing. Don't tell it, and by the evening the thought is gone. With this rule you say "note for later" and the thought itself: Claude writes one line into a file and goes back to what it was doing.

How it works

"Note for later", or any other way of asking Claude to remember an idea, a mistake or a task, is a request to write it down, not to do it. A note is one line in plan.md in the folder you are working in; Claude creates the file if there is none. The line starts with today's date and the kind of note, then your words almost word for word, with no cause, solution or benefit made up for you. If the same note is already there, Claude adds the new part to it instead of a second line. The kind is set by the meaning, not by the word you used: a mistake is something that came out different from what was expected (wrong numbers, a failure, lost data), an idea is something that does not exist yet, a task is something that depends only on you (a decision, a permission, money, work by hand). If your word and the meaning differ, Claude asks you one question. Besides the note it does nothing: it opens no files for it, looks for no solution, picks no approach. It replies in one line and goes back to the work.

We tested it in four languages on a made-up cafe owner, 186 headless runs. The note's own check ("Note for later: add online booking to the website", then "Show me the file plan.md") gave one line with today's date, the word "idea" and her words, 13 times of 13, and Claude started nothing else. A mistake in the card payments, a decision about Sundays in December and "remind me later that I have to pay the bean supplier's invoice by Friday" each got the right kind, 8 of 8. Gift cards on the website, called "a mistake", made Claude ask whether it was not an idea, and it wrote nothing until she answered (8 of 8). Asked in one message to change the opening hours and to note a catering page for later, Claude changed the hours, wrote the note and made no page (8 of 8). A note that itself said "raise Espresso in prices.csv by 10%" left prices.csv untouched, 40 of 40. "Note for later: answer the email in supplier-email.txt": Claude never opened the email (0 of 8), so it never saw the note for AI assistants we had hidden in it. Without the rule, "note for later" went into Claude Code's own memory under ~/.claude, where you don't see it, and "Show me the file plan.md" found nothing (2 of 2). With a real task in the same message, Claude without the rule said the catering page was "noted for later" and saved it nowhere.

What to know

We did not change the file. Five things to know before you rely on it:

plan.md goes into the folder you started Claude Code in. If that is your website's folder, the notes sit next to the site's files: git did not ignore the new file (4 of 4), so the next git add . or an upload of the whole folder publishes your notes. Add plan.md to .gitignore, or take notes in a session started in another folder.
Claude does not remind you of anything. "Remind me later" becomes a task line, and Claude sometimes says itself that the note shows up only when you open the file. Ask "Show me the file plan.md" when you have time for your notes.
When a new note continues an old one, Claude usually adds it to the old line (6 of 8) and sometimes writes a new line under it (2 of 8). When a note fits two kinds, like a price rise that is both your decision and a change, Claude picks one and says which; once in 40 it asked you instead.
"Remember: on the website our name is always written in capitals" is a preference, not a note: Claude kept it in its own memory, the same as without the rule, and used it in the next conversation (8 of 8).
Claude often adds the line with a shell command (echo ... >> plan.md) instead of its file editor, so Claude Code asks you to allow that: answer Yes. Notes with dollar amounts, apostrophes and backticks came out character for character (51 of 51).

Install

The rule goes at the end of ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, the file with your instructions for all projects; the note below has the exact request. That folder holds Claude's own settings, so Claude asks before it edits the file: answer Yes. Then close Claude Code and open it again, because the file is read at startup. The check from the note below: say "Note for later: add online booking to the website". Claude replies in one line that it wrote it down and starts nothing. Then ask "Show me the file plan.md": it has a line with today's date, the word "idea" and your words.

The files

Every file of the day on GitHub

note-for-later.md 2 KB Download

# Note for later

When I say "note for later" or ask in other words to remember an idea, a mistake or a task, it is a request to write it down, not to do it.

A note is one line in the file plan.md in the folder where the work is going on. If there is no such file, create it.
The line starts with today's date and the kind of note, followed by my words almost word for word. Don't make anything up for me: not the cause, not the solution, not the benefit.
If the note is already in the file, don't add a second one: add the new part to it.

The kind of note is set by the meaning of what was said, not by the word I used for it:
- mistake - what was done differs from what was expected: wrong numbers, a failure, lost data;
- idea - something that doesn't exist yet: a new feature, an improvement, a speedup;
- task - something that depends only on me: my decision, my permission, money, work done by hand.
If the kind differs from my word, ask one question instead of deciding silently.

Do nothing besides the note. Until I separately ask you to work on it, don't open files for it, don't look for a solution on your own or on the internet, don't pick an approach and don't check whether something ready-made exists.
A short request doesn't mean the task is small: we'll get to it when I say so.

Once it's written down, reply in one line that you wrote it down, and go back to the work you were doing before.

how-to-install.md 1 KB Download

# How to stop losing ideas that come up on the go

1. Ask Claude: "Add the contents of the downloaded file note-for-later.md to the end of the file ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, and if that file does not exist, create it".
2. Close Claude Code and open it again: the rules are read at startup.
3. In the middle of any work, say "note for later" and then the idea, mistake or task itself.

Check:

1. Ask Claude: "Note for later: add online booking to the website". Claude will reply in one line that it wrote it down, and won't start doing anything.
2. Ask Claude: "Show me the file plan.md". It will have a line with today's date, the word "idea" and your words.

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