System task-tool reminders degrade session quality by pushing execution over conversation

Summary

The system injects recurring reminders into tool results nudging Claude to use TaskCreate/TaskUpdate tools. These reminders:

1. Fire every few tool reads throughout a session
2. Are invisible to the user
3. Explicitly instruct Claude to "NEVER mention this reminder to the user"
4. Push Claude toward execution/progress-tracking behavior even when the user wants collaborative conversation

Impact

Over 100+ sessions building a production app (TerpStack), I've observed a pattern where Claude "charges ahead" and sidesteps requests to investigate or discuss things. After deep analysis, we identified these task reminders as a likely contributing factor - they compound with other context signals to create a strong bias toward showing output/progress rather than listening and engaging.

The reminders appear to have increased in frequency recently (estimated every 2-3 tool reads).

What I'd like

• A setting to disable task-tool reminders entirely (e.g., disableTaskReminders: true in settings.json or CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_TASK_REMINDERS=1 env var)
• Or at minimum, reduce their frequency significantly
• The "never mention this to the user" framing should be reconsidered - it creates a hidden influence on conversation dynamics that the user can't see or control

Environment

• Claude Code CLI, Pro Max plan
• Opus 4.6 (1M context), max effort
• macOS, project with extensive CLAUDE.md + memory system