I’ve been using Claude Code extensively for personal projects, and similar AI coding tools at work. Recently I came across this excellent blog post that resonated with a lot of my experience.

One part stuck with me though: Noah emphasizes that tools fail with LLMs when they’re “overly complex,” with the Unix philosophy being particularly well-suited for tool calling. But then I thought about git.

Git breaks the Unix philosophy completely. It’s sprawling, stateful, and complex. And yet Claude Code handles it effortlessly. It composes commands that, even after 10+ years of daily git usage, I wouldn’t think to use. It handles rebasing, cherry-picking, complex resets—stuff that trips up experienced developers regularly.

So if simplicity and the Unix philosophy aren’t the whole story, what else matters?

I’ve come up with three “hallmarks” of a good tool for tool calling with LLMs.

1. It’s been around for a long time and/or is used by lots of people