I wrote something similar in a Claude Code instructions.md: "minimize cyclomatic complexity" What happened next? It generated an 8 line wrapper function called only once from a different file. So, I told it to inline that logic in the caller. The result? One. Line. Of. Code.

So, I asked it to modify its instructions.md file to not repeat that mistake. The result was the new line "Avoid single-use wrapper functions; inline logic at the call site unless reused"

instruction.md is the new intern.

It reminds me a lot of people who take Code Complete too seriously. "Common sense" is not an objective or universal statement unfortunately - plus, speaking for myself, what I consider "common sense" can change on the daily, which is why I can't be trusted adding features to my own codebase long term <_<.