Claude Code: a TODOS.md file for off-topic details

In the middle of a feature, you often stumble on an unrelated detail: a warning, a pattern that isn’t followed, a bit of debt to settle. The usual options: ignore it, fix it on the way (risky if it’s complex), or remember it (optimistic).

The best option: write it down.

The idea: one very simple instruction in your CLAUDE.md: any detail spotted during a task must be noted, concisely, in a TODOS.md file. You can also trigger it by hand with a /btw to do later: ... in Claude Code.

The result: between two tasks, you have a memo of small things to clean up. And in the AI era, a clean, strict codebase is still the best harness you can get.

I add this rule to the CLAUDE.md of every project I take on.

PS: this is not a replacement for Linear or anything else. Just a space for what doesn’t deserve a ticket, a quick memo so you don’t forget.