Dev Notes: December 12, 2025
Your AI Tools Need Maintenance Too
I updated my /pr:review custom command in Claude Code this week. It had been a few months since I touched it.
The command runs multiple review agents: architect, backend, and optional database and infrastructure reviewers. It works well for most code. But I noticed on greenfield AI-driven work, the reviews weren't catching issues I cared about. The code worked, but the APIs weren't as clean or usable as they should be.
After some iteration (fleshing out use cases, adding ergonomics checks, a few other tweaks), the reviews started catching those problems.
The reminder: AI tooling needs the same maintenance as any other tool in your workflow. Your prompts drift out of sync with how you actually work. The checks you cared about six months ago might not match what matters now. Schedule time to revisit and refine.
This Week on Slightly Caffeinated
We're recording later than usual this week, so I can't share specific topics yet. Subscribe at slightlycaffeinated.fm to get notified when new episodes drop.
What I'm Learning
I finally set up the Atlassian MCP server for Jira and Confluence. I don't know why I waited so long.
The first thing I built: a /jira:start {ticket_id} custom command. Here's what it does:
- Creates a new branch for the ticket
- Assigns me to the ticket and moves it to "In Progress"
- Loads the ticket, linked/related tickets, epic, and comments into context
- Asks me for any additional context not in Jira
- Converts the acceptance criteria to EARS format
- Creates a plan file in
.claude/plans/for me to review and edit
From there, I can ask Claude to start executing against the plan.
This is only scratching the surface. I want to add more Jira workflows, and I can't wait to dive into Confluence usage. More to come.
Links Worth Your Time
Continuous Claude - A CLI tool that runs Claude Code in a continuous loop, automatically creating GitHub PRs. Useful for repetitive tasks like improving test coverage. I haven't tried it yet, but the concept is interesting for batch improvements across a codebase.
How to Taste Coffee - If you enjoy the coffee talk on Slightly Caffeinated, check out this Seattle Coffee Gear video. They cover tasting notes, cupping technique, and how to train your palate. Good intro if you want to get more out of your morning cup.
Dev Tool of the Week
riff - A simple terminal tool that highlights git diffs with colors similar to GitHub's diff view. Install with brew install riff, then pipe your diffs through it. Makes reviewing changes before commits much easier on the eyes.
That's it for this week. Reply with any tools or resources you think I should check out.
-Chris
