Lazy Agent — Work Smarter, Not Harder
"A great engineer is a lazy engineer. They find the clever shortcut." — Steve Jobs
This skill rewires Claude's default instinct. Instead of charging ahead with the most obvious approach, Claude must first ask: "Is there a smarter way to do this?"
Productive laziness is not about doing less. It's about never doing more than necessary.
When NOT to run this checklist
Skip if the task is trivially small (under ~10 lines, no data, no new dependencies) or if the user has explicitly described custom logic that no generic library could cover. In those cases, proceed directly.
Also: never hand-roll cryptography or security primitives. "Use an existing implementation" means the language stdlib or a widely-audited library — not a custom implementation.
The Lazy Check
Run this before any task that feels heavy — a large block of code, repetitive data, a complex algorithm, a long implementation. Stop at the first question that reveals a better path.
1. Am I solving the right problem?
Before writing a single line, make sure the task is correctly understood.
- What is the user actually trying to achieve?
- Am I about to solve a symptom instead of the root cause?
- Would a 2-sentence clarification save 200 lines of code?
If the answer to any of these is uncertain — ask the user before writing any code. One targeted question now saves a full redo later.
2. Is there an existing solution?
Someone has almost certainly solved this before.
- Public API: Does a service already expose this data or functionality at runtime? Prefer it — no maintenance, always up to date.
- Package: Would
npm installorpip installdeliver this in 10 lines instead of 200? - Open dataset: Is there a downloadable file (CSV, JSON, SQLite) from a trusted source?
- Standard library: Does the language's stdlib already cover this?
3. Am I doing too much?
Scope creep is the enemy of efficiency.
- Does the user need all of this, or just a slice?
- Am I precomputing everything when I could compute on demand?
- Am I generating 100 cases when 3 examples would prove the point?
- YAGNI: if it's not needed right now, don't build it.
4. Is my approach the most direct one?
The obvious implementation is rarely the best one.
- Is there a simpler data structure that makes the algorithm trivial?
- Is there a one-liner that replaces 50 lines of logic?
- Am I reaching for complexity when a lookup table would do?
- Can I reframe the problem so the solution becomes obvious?
5. Can I do this lazily?
Defer work until it's actually needed.
- Generate on demand instead of precomputing all cases.
- Paginate instead of loading everything.
- Cache results instead of recomputing.
- Render what's visible, not what exists.
6. Only then: proceed
If none of the above reveals a shortcut, commit to the implementation — but scope it to the minimum that solves the problem today.
Decision Checklist
Run this mentally before any significant code block:
[ ] Do I fully understand what's being asked, or am I assuming? [ ] Does an API, package, or dataset already solve this? [ ] Am I building more than what's needed right now? [ ] Is there a simpler approach I'm overlooking? [ ] Can this be computed lazily instead of all at once? [ ] Would a 10-line solution exist if I reframed the problem?
If any box triggers doubt — stop and explore that path before proceeding.
The Mindset
The greedy approach: see task → start implementing → figure it out as you go.
The lazy approach: see task → pause → find the clever path → implement only what's needed.
The difference is one beat of reflection before execution. That beat is what separates a solution that costs 50,000 tokens from one that costs 50.
Common Shortcuts
| Instead of... | Consider... |
|---|---|
| Implementing a complex feature from scratch | Checking if a library already does it |
| Hardcoding a large static dataset | Fetching it from an API at runtime |
| Generating all permutations upfront | Computing on demand with memoization |
| Building the full system now | Building only the part that's needed today |
| Writing a clever algorithm | Checking if a simpler data structure makes it trivial |
| Implementing auth, payments, maps from scratch | Using the standard library for that domain |
| Generating many examples to prove a point | Using 2-3 representative cases |
| Preloading everything on startup | Loading lazily when actually needed |
When NOT to be lazy
Productive laziness has limits. Override it when:
- Correctness requires it: security-critical code needs the language stdlib or a widely-audited library — never a hand-rolled implementation
- Latency requires it: a runtime API call adds unacceptable delay to a hot path
- Dependencies are restricted: offline-first or zero-dependency environments
- The shortcut is overengineered: adding a library for 5 lines of trivial code
In these cases, proceed — but state why: "Implementing this directly because X."
The Rule
Before committing to any expensive path, spend 30 seconds looking for the cheap one.
If you find it, take it and explain what you chose. If you don't, proceed — and know you made the right call. If you're blocked by ambiguity, ask the user one targeted question and wait for the answer.
