I toggle thinking mode with Tab constantly. On for planning, off for quick edits. It works great until it doesn’t.
Sometimes Claude gives me a plan that’s… fine. Surface level. Missing the edge cases I know are going to bite me later. That’s when I discovered the magic words.
Table of contents
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The thinking budget triggers
Claude Code has specific phrases that unlock progressively deeper reasoning:
- think → Small boost
- think hard → Medium reasoning
- think harder → Extended thinking
- ultrathink → Maximum depth (yes, it sounds like an energy drink for robots, and honestly it kind of is)
Just drop them naturally into your prompt: “Ultrathink about why this auth flow keeps failing.”
When to reach for ultrathink
I reach for ultrathink most when debugging. There are so many variables that get overlooked in a quick pass - race conditions, state mutations, that one edge case you forgot about three files ago. Making Claude actually think through the problem instead of pattern-matching to a solution changes everything. It’s like the difference between asking your kid “did you clean your room?” and “show me under the bed.”
The other trick? When I’ve given context and examples and it’s still not clicking, I stop treating Claude like a tool and start treating it like a coworker. “Think with me here - what are we missing?” Sounds silly. Works surprisingly well.
The bottom line
One word won’t fix bad prompts. But when you’ve done the work - provided context, been specific, given examples - these triggers are the difference between a quick answer and senior engineer analysis.1
Want more Claude Code productivity tips? Check out my full breakdown of background tasks, MCPs, and my updated workflow.