Tips

Patterns that pay off when working with Claude Code in StoreFrame environments.

Use the pre-loaded context

Don't explain Magento basics to Claude — it knows them. Skip the background and jump straight to the specific:

• Instead of: "Look at the Magento exception log to find errors. Magento stores logs in var/log."
• Write: "Find the most-common stack trace in exception.log from the last hour."

Bound the scope of long-running tasks

Claude will refactor an entire module if you ask. Bounding scope keeps changes reviewable:

• Instead of: "Improve the checkout module."
• Write: "In app/code/Vendor/Checkout/Plugin/Discount.php, the apply method uses nested conditionals. Refactor to guard clauses — no behavior changes."

Ask for a plan before any code is touched

For multi-step work (migrations, refactors, debugging chains), ask Claude to write a plan you can review first:

• "Plan a migration that adds an index on sales_order.created_at and a follow-up script to verify the index is used. Don't write any code yet — just the steps."

Once the plan looks right, ask Claude to execute step by step.

Query the database directly

Claude can run MariaDB queries via the local socket. Common patterns:

• "Show me the 10 most recent orders with status pending_payment"
• "Count orders by status for the past 30 days"
• "Find SKUs where qty = 0 but is_in_stock = 1"

Commit and open a PR from Claude

If your environment has a configured git remote, Claude can handle the commit and PR:

• "Commit the changes you just made with a descriptive message, push to a new branch named after the issue, and open a pull request."

Claude generates the branch name, commit message, and PR description.

Recover from unwanted changes

If Claude did something you didn't intend:

• git diff — see what changed
• git checkout -- <file> — discard uncommitted changes to a specific file
• git revert <sha> — undo a committed change cleanly without rewriting history

For operations that already ran and can't be undone by git (a cache flush, an index rebuild, a queue consumer trigger), ask Claude to re-run the correct version.

Multi-tab workflows

Open multiple Console tabs for parallel work. A common split:

• Tab 1 (Claude) — investigating or fixing the bug
• Tab 2 (Bash) — tail -F var/log/exception.log so new errors appear live
• Tab 3 (Bash) — mysql or docker exec -it mariadb mysql open for ad-hoc queries

Naming tabs after what they're for — investigate, tail-logs, mysql — makes switching fast and keeps /remote-control entries legible on other devices.

When to use Codeserver instead

Switch to Codeserver (VS Code in the browser, launched from the environment header on desktop) when:

• You need to read or edit many files in parallel with syntax highlighting and IDE navigation
• You're doing sustained authoring rather than diagnosis
• You want Claude Code inside a full editor environment (it's available in the Codeserver integrated terminal too)

The Console tab and Codeserver share the same VM — you can have both open at once.