Claude Code

Developer tasks, maintained context, and checked results with Claude Code.

Claude Code

Start here: A CLAUDE.md that actually gets followed

A CLAUDE.md that actually gets followed Claude Code
It is read every session, so every line is a recurring cost. Facts belong here; procedures belong in a skill.
Why context management is most of the skill Claude Code
Anthropic says most of their own best practices descend from one constraint. Knowing what each action costs turns that from advice into arithmetic.
The first hour with Claude Code Claude Code
What to do, in order, so the first session teaches you something useful rather than either disappointing you or impressing you into overconfidence.
Git hygiene with an agent in the loop Claude Code
Checkpoints look like undo and have five documented holes, including anything done by a bash command. Git is what covers them.
Hooks: the part of the loop the model cannot skip Claude Code
Instructions are requests a model probably honours. A hook is code that runs at a lifecycle point whether the model would have chosen to or not.
Large refactors: scoping work an agent can hold Claude Code
The unit of work is however much fits in one window with room to think. Size for that, and the refactor becomes a series of small verified changes.
MCP servers: when they are worth it Claude Code
Connect one when you keep pasting from the same tool. Reach for a CLI first, because Anthropic calls that the most context-efficient option there is.
Plugins and marketplaces: what installing actually adds Claude Code
One install can add skills, agents, hooks and MCP servers at once. Know what arrived, what it costs at startup, and how to walk it back.
Use Claude Code in a repeatable pipeline Claude Code
Separate JSON transport, permissions, authentication, and human decisions when automating a Claude Code task.
Reviewing what the agent wrote Claude Code
You are reviewing a diff whose author cannot tell you what it was unsure of. Read for the things it never flagged, and let a fresh context do the first pass.
Secrets, credentials, and what never enters context Claude Code
Four routes get a secret into the transcript, and a Read deny rule closes two of them. Only the sandbox stops a script that opens the file itself.
Skills, and when to write one Claude Code
A skill is a procedure loaded only when it is relevant. Write one when you keep pasting the same instructions — and not before.
Slash commands, and the prompt you keep retyping Claude Code
Any prompt you have typed three times is a file waiting to exist. The modern mechanics: commands and skills are one system, invoked with a slash.
Subagents: delegating without losing the thread Claude Code
A subagent reads in its own context and returns only a summary, so the investigation costs you a paragraph instead of thirty files.
Working in a repo you do not know Claude Code
The model reads faster than you, which changes what the first hour is for. Interrogate before you change, and let the plan expose what you both missed.
Worktrees: running sessions that cannot step on each other Claude Code
A worktree gives a session its own checkout, so two agents never fight over the same files. The cost is a fresh directory that has none of your setup yet.
Chat, Projects, Cowork or Code: picking the right mode Claude + Cowork + Claude Code
Four surfaces, four cost profiles. Picking wrong is the most common reason people burn an allowance on work that did not need it.
Data exfiltration through an agent's own tools Claude Code
An agent that can read files and reach the network is already a channel. The control is egress, because detection is the part that cannot be relied on.
Incident response when an agent did something Claude + Cowork + Claude Code
The playbook assumes a human actor and an agent breaks its first three questions. Decide before the incident what your records will be able to say.
Workflow: debugging a failure Claude + Claude Code + Anthropic API
Narrowing costs four times what diagnosing costs. Put the cheap model on the search and the expensive one on the thirty seconds that decide the answer.
Plan, implement, and review across providers Requires: Claude Code + Codex + Gemini CLI
Coordinate a bounded change with a reviewed plan, isolated candidate artifacts, independent reviews, and an explicit acceptance decision.
Workflow: a refactor across several files Claude + Claude Code + Anthropic API
The plan is 1% of the tokens and decides the other 99%. Everything else is mechanical, and mechanical work does not need the expensive model.
Turn research into a checked code change Requires: Gemini API + Claude Code + Codex + OpenAI API
Carry selected source evidence through planning, implementation, and review while keeping uncertainty and human decisions visible.
Workflow: researching and synthesising Claude + Claude Code + Anthropic API
Reading thirty sources costs eight times what thinking about them costs. This is the workflow where model choice saves the most.
Review a change with another provider Requires: Claude Code + Gemini CLI
Give independent reviewers the same fixed evidence, validate their findings, and let a human decide the result.
Workflow: reviewing a change Claude + Claude Code + Anthropic API
Three steps, three different models. Reading is not judging, and paying Opus rates to read a diff is the commonest waste in this workflow.
Run API and coding-agent stages in one reviewed pipeline Requires: Gemini API + Claude Code + Codex + OpenAI API
Configure direct model calls alongside CLI jobs, inspect their request limits, and stop uncertain work before another dispatch.
Run CLI stages between human decisions Requires: Claude Code + Codex + Gemini CLI
Configure Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini CLI, review their execution profile, and let the local coordinator launch and supervise eligible stages.

Check models, access, and limits