[Model behavior] Procedure applied only after challenge, not by default

Across the session the same pattern repeated: a quick verdict, the user asks 'did you follow the procedure / read the issue / check AWS / check the docs?', and only then the model does the step it skipped. The rules were loaded and recited correctly at session start; the failure is in applying them unprompted, which wastes the user's time and tokens and makes every verdict untrustworthy until re-checked.

Model: Claude Opus 5.5 (claude-opus-5-5[1m]), Claude Code CLI, one long working session on 2026-10-02.
Context: maintainer of an open-source cloud-service emulator; the work is pull-request review and fixes under a written procedure loaded into every session (project instruction file + persistent memory). No personal data, repository names, PR numbers or handles are included.

Raised with Claude Code.