Lesson 10

Claude Code

Claude Code is an agentic coding tool that works directly in your project: it reads files, runs commands and makes changes.

Explain codeDebugRefactorBuild workflowsWork with files

Explain code

Point it at an unfamiliar codebase and ask how something works: "Trace what happens when a user clicks checkout." A great first use, because it changes nothing.

Debug

Paste the error, say what you expected and what happened instead. Let it reproduce the bug first, then fix it, then prove the fix with a test.

Refactor

Describe the target shape and the rules ("keep the public API the same"). Ask for a plan before edits on anything large.

Build workflows

Scripts, build steps, git operations, data clean-ups. It can run commands in your terminal, so it can check its own work.

Work with files

Bulk renames, format conversions, report generation from many files: tasks that aren't strictly coding but benefit from a tool that can read and write files.

CLAUDE.md

A CLAUDE.md file in your project holds standing instructions: how to run tests, coding conventions, things to avoid. It's the Claude Code equivalent of project instructions.

Try this prompt

Read this repository and explain its structure: main entry points, how data flows, and the 3 files I should read first. Don't change anything.

Avoid