Ask Claude what it missed, explained by monkey

Claude is quick to say "done". That doesn't mean it's wrong, but it does mean the first answer is the first draft. Anthropic's own guide for Claude Code says it plainly: "Claude stops when the work looks done." And if nothing checks the work, "every mistake waits for you to notice it." The fix is cheap: before you use what Claude made, ask it to look again.

The line to paste

When Claude says it's finished, send this as your next message:

Anthropic's prompting guide recommends the same move: ask Claude to check its answer before it finishes, which it says "catches errors reliably". The "like someone else made it" part helps Claude stop defending its first try and actually read it fresh.

Versions for different jobs

• An email or message: "Read this as the person getting it. Is anything unclear, rude, or missing? Is the ask obvious? Fix it."
• A plan or schedule: "Check this plan for anything that won't work: clashing times, steps in the wrong order, things I'd need that aren't listed."
• Numbers, a budget or a recipe: "Redo every calculation from scratch and tell me if any number changed."
• Homework or facts: "Which parts of this are you least sure about? Mark them, and tell me how I could check them."
• Something Claude built for you (a page, a spreadsheet, an app): "Try it the way I would use it. What breaks, or what did I ask for that isn't there yet?"

When it helps most

Anything long, anything with numbers, and anything you're about to send to someone else or rely on. For a quick one-line answer you can skip it. It takes five seconds to ask, so when in doubt, ask.

The one gotcha

If you ask Claude to find problems, it will nearly always find some, even when the work is fine. Anthropic's guide warns about exactly this: a reviewer asked to find gaps "will usually report some, even when the work is sound." That's why the line says "only real problems". If the second look only turns up tiny wording tweaks, the work was probably fine, so take it and move on instead of asking again and again.

Monkey believe in you. Now go build.

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