Claude Code
Project memory, plan mode, permissions, review and rewind, hooks, skills and headless CI runs.
Start: What Claude Code is and where things liveAbout Claude Code
Claude Code is Anthropic's coding agent. It runs in your terminal, and also in IDE extensions, the desktop app and the cloud. It reads your repo, edits files and runs commands, asking first under a permission system you control. The same agent can run in scripts, CI and GitHub Actions. Teams use it on Team or Enterprise seats or through the Claude API.
Best for: Developers who want an agent that works across a whole codebase from the terminal, and the people who review its changes.
Good for
- Planning and making changes that touch many files
- Running your tests and commands, then fixing what fails
- Following project rules you write once in CLAUDE.md
- Running the same tasks in scripts and CI
Where people slip
- Approving commands without reading them
- Treating CLAUDE.md as a hard rule. It's context, so use deny rules and hooks to block things
- Letting secrets like .env files into the agent's context
- Committing changes you haven't read in the diff
What is CLAUDE.md?
A file of project notes Claude Code reads at the start of a session, like your build commands and code style. Run /init to create a first draft. Keep it short, under about 200 lines.
How do I stop Claude Code from running a command?
Answer No when it asks, or add a deny rule in your permission settings, such as Bash(git push *). Deny rules always win over allow rules.
Can Claude Code plan before it edits?
Yes. Plan mode lets it read and propose a plan without changing files. Press Shift+Tab to cycle into it, or type /plan.
Do I need to know how to code to use it?
It helps a lot. You still review its changes and run the tests. If you're new, start with the Getting technical pack.
Checked against Claude Code's own docs on 2026-11-06.
Basics
Know what Claude Code is, start your first session, and make one small change you've reviewed.
New to Claude Code? Start here. Already use it? Skip to the next milestone.
0 of 2 lessons completeFoundations
Set up project memory, plan before editing, and steer a session.
0 of 3 lessons completeReview and control every change
Set permission rules, read Claude's diffs and rewind mistakes before they reach git.
0 of 2 lessons complete