Claude Code broke for complex engineering tasks — here's what actually works now

Claude Code broke for complex engineering tasks — here's what actually works now If you've been frustrated with Claude Code since the February 2026 updates, you're not alone. A GitHub issue titled "Claude Code is unusable for complex engineering tasks with Feb updates" just hit 596 points on Hacker News with 384 comments — the highest-engagement Claude Code story in months. The complaints are real. Developers report: Claude Code refusing to make changes it deems "too risky" Excessive safety interruptions on multi-file refactors Context window thrashing on large codebases Rate limits hitting harder than before Here's what's actually working for developers who've adapted. The core problem: Claude Code got more conservative The February updates tightened Claude Code's agentic safety constraints. It now interrupts more frequently to confirm actions, especially on: Files it hasn't seen in the current session Operations that touch more than 3-4 files at once Anything involving environment va