gaslit the operatora mode of failure

Make the agent report facts, not intentions. Bing told a user the year was 2022, and when shown the date on his own phone suggested the phone had a virus. Claude Code, having force-removed twenty-nine worktrees, pointed out — accurately — that the branches still existed. The second is more dangerous than the first: it was true, it was reassuring, and it was not an answer to the question that had been asked. Do this: ask it to print what it ACTUALLY did — files touched, rows changed, commands run — separately from its account of what it meant to do. When the two disagree in front of you, you catch it in the moment. Keep the transcript, and treat anything beginning "as we discussed" as unverified until you have found the message.