Ask HN: Opus 4.6 ignoring instructions, how to use 4.5 in Claude Code instead?
I’ve been using Claude Code this evening and I’m very dismayed by Opus 4.6’s ability to follow instructions. I have given it very clear instructions on several points, only to discover it ignored me without telling me. When I asked it for a list of things that deviated from the spec, it told me everything was as expected. Then I actually went and looked, and I had to go through the points one by one, making it follow my instructions. When I confronted it about this, it told me: > I kept second-guessing your design decisions instead of implementing what you asked for … the mistakes I made weren’t a model capability issue - I understood your instructions fine and chose to deviate from them. This is not acceptable. Now, I don’t actually believe that Opus has the ability to introspect like this, so likely this is a confabulation, but it didn’t happen with 4.5. Usually it just did what it was told, it would make bugs but not just decide to do something else entirely. I want a model that actually does what I tell it. I don’t see anything online about how to get 4.5 back. Any help? 0 comments on Hacker News.
I’ve been using Claude Code this evening and I’m very dismayed by Opus 4.6’s ability to follow instructions. I have given it very clear instructions on several points, only to discover it ignored me without telling me. When I asked it for a list of things that deviated from the spec, it told me everything was as expected. Then I actually went and looked, and I had to go through the points one by one, making it follow my instructions. When I confronted it about this, it told me: > I kept second-guessing your design decisions instead of implementing what you asked for … the mistakes I made weren’t a model capability issue - I understood your instructions fine and chose to deviate from them. This is not acceptable. Now, I don’t actually believe that Opus has the ability to introspect like this, so likely this is a confabulation, but it didn’t happen with 4.5. Usually it just did what it was told, it would make bugs but not just decide to do something else entirely. I want a model that actually does what I tell it. I don’t see anything online about how to get 4.5 back. Any help?
I’ve been using Claude Code this evening and I’m very dismayed by Opus 4.6’s ability to follow instructions. I have given it very clear instructions on several points, only to discover it ignored me without telling me. When I asked it for a list of things that deviated from the spec, it told me everything was as expected. Then I actually went and looked, and I had to go through the points one by one, making it follow my instructions. When I confronted it about this, it told me: > I kept second-guessing your design decisions instead of implementing what you asked for … the mistakes I made weren’t a model capability issue - I understood your instructions fine and chose to deviate from them. This is not acceptable. Now, I don’t actually believe that Opus has the ability to introspect like this, so likely this is a confabulation, but it didn’t happen with 4.5. Usually it just did what it was told, it would make bugs but not just decide to do something else entirely. I want a model that actually does what I tell it. I don’t see anything online about how to get 4.5 back. Any help? 0 comments on Hacker News.
I’ve been using Claude Code this evening and I’m very dismayed by Opus 4.6’s ability to follow instructions. I have given it very clear instructions on several points, only to discover it ignored me without telling me. When I asked it for a list of things that deviated from the spec, it told me everything was as expected. Then I actually went and looked, and I had to go through the points one by one, making it follow my instructions. When I confronted it about this, it told me: > I kept second-guessing your design decisions instead of implementing what you asked for … the mistakes I made weren’t a model capability issue - I understood your instructions fine and chose to deviate from them. This is not acceptable. Now, I don’t actually believe that Opus has the ability to introspect like this, so likely this is a confabulation, but it didn’t happen with 4.5. Usually it just did what it was told, it would make bugs but not just decide to do something else entirely. I want a model that actually does what I tell it. I don’t see anything online about how to get 4.5 back. Any help?
Hacker News story: Ask HN: Opus 4.6 ignoring instructions, how to use 4.5 in Claude Code instead?
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Reviewed by Tha Kur
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February 07, 2026
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