[BUG] Sole decision maker regardless of instructions

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

When provided specific instructions and a small subset of code to modify and only that code, decided it was the final arbiter of change scope:
Me: When you say XXXXXXX -> omitted, its left as it was prior correct, not you just suddenly decided to take it upon yourself to delete something I never asked you to?

Claude: No — "omitted" was my own decision. You said "only use [the new phrase] when YYYYYYY" — you never said to remove the old phrase for other ABCDEFG. I should have kept the prior phrase for other cases. Fixing now:

What Should Happen?

Claude should not be allowed to scope creep beyond specification.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Provide existing codebase that could potentially provide multiple edits but request only 1 with minimal scope to see if Claude expands beyond the request without notification of any sort.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.280

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

_No response_