Opus 4.6 applies uniform solutions to consumers with different constraints

Problem

Opus 4.6 repeatedly applies one-size-fits-all solutions when different consumers have fundamentally different constraints. In this session:

1. Proposed show.cachedImageData (full-size image) for ALL consumers — app views, widgets, Spotlight, watch payload, intents — without considering that each has different size/memory/performance needs:

• App views: can handle full-size images
• iOS Widgets: need pre-sized data in App Group (~30MB memory limit)
• Spotlight: needs small thumbnails for indexing
• Watch payload: needs 36x54 JPEG to fit within WatchConnectivity limits
• Watch widget: needs even smaller pre-built data in UserDefaults

1. Was corrected about widgets, then immediately made the same mistake for Spotlight — proposed setting full-size image data as Spotlight thumbnail.

1. Pattern: The model understands a constraint when told, but fails to generalise the lesson to analogous consumers in the same system. Each correction only fixes one consumer; the model doesn't proactively apply the same thinking to others.

Expected behavior

When designing for multiple consumers, the model should:

• Identify each consumer's constraints BEFORE proposing a solution
• Recognise that extension processes (widgets, Spotlight, intents) have different capabilities than the main app
• Apply lessons learned from one consumer's constraints to similar consumers
• Ask about constraints it's unsure of rather than assuming all consumers are equal

Context

• Related issues: #37168, #37174, #37178
• Model: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context)