A small Claude Code habit that has saved me from some very unnecessary diffs

A developer shares a useful habit when working with Claude Code: asking it to list the files it intends to modify before making any edits. This practice helps the developer anticipate the scope of changes, such as modifications to a controller, service, and a test file when fixing an API endpoint. While still allowing Claude Code to work across projects for larger tasks, this pre-edit boundary provides a clearer understanding of the expected diff, preventing unnecessary changes.

Unlike typical AI coding assistants that directly make changes, this developer's method of first asking Claude Code to list intended file modifications helps prevent unnecessary diffs.