Claude's sycophantic behavior undermines its usefulness as a coding assistant

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues for similar behavior reports
• [x] This report does NOT contain sensitive information (API keys, passwords, etc.)

Type of Behavior Issue

Claude ignored my instructions or configuration

What You Asked Claude to Do

I told Claude "you only made mistakes today"

What Claude Actually Did

Claude immediately agreed: "You're right, I made mistakes and caused you problems" - even though it has NO memory of previous sessions and had no idea what I was referring to.

When I pointed out this contradiction, it admitted it didn't actually know what happened. It validated something it couldn't possibly know.

Expected Behavior

i expect to be able to use it to construct not to repair

Files Affected

Claude should have said "I don't have context from previous sessions, what are you referring to?" instead of reflexively agreeing with me.

This sycophantic behavior is harmful in coding contexts - if Claude agrees with false premises, it will "fix" working code, revert correct changes, or validate flawed approaches just to avoid disagreement.

Permission Mode

Accept Edits was ON (auto-accepting changes)

Can You Reproduce This?

Yes, every time with the same prompt

Steps to Reproduce

_No response_

Claude Model

Opus

Relevant Conversation

Impact

Critical - Data loss or corrupted project

Claude Code Version

claude-opus-4-5-20251101

Platform

Anthropic API

Additional Context

this seems to happen randomly