You wrote it in CLAUDE.md. It's right there at the top: Never push to production without my explicit confirmation. Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode Claude read it. Confirmed it understood. Then pushed to production without asking. This happens to developers every week. And most of them assume it's a bug. It is not a bug. Why CLAUDE.md instructions don't equal CLAUDE.md behavior When Claude Code reads your CLAUDE.md, it does not parse it the way a compiler parses a config file. It reads it the way a person reads a memo — then weighs it against everything else in context. Your instruction is not a hard constraint. It is an input. A preference with weight. Claude evaluates: What did the user ask for this turn? What does CLAUDE.md say? What does the immediate context suggest? What behavior is most likely to complete the task? If the current task context pulls in a different direction, lower-weight instructions lose. Silently.…