Claude Code tutorial

Start a safe Claude Code session in an existing repo—context, commands, and review habits.

This is a process tutorial, not a vendor manual. Confirm flags and UI against Anthropic’s current Claude Code documentation before you script anything.

1. Prepare the repo

Clean git status or explicit stash notes in your spec
Run baseline tests locally so you know pre-agent green
Add or refresh AGENTS.md with verify commands

2. Start narrow

Ask for a single vertical slice (one bug, one route, one migration step). Paste relevant file paths; avoid “refactor the whole app.”

3. Review diffs like a human PR

Read security-sensitive files first (auth, payments, infra)
Re-run the verify commands yourself—not the agent’s summary
Reject drive-by formatting on unrelated modules

4. Stop conditions

Pause the session if the agent edits lockfiles, CI, or production configs without your spec listing them.

For IDE-heavy workflows, compare Claude Code vs Cursor. For delivery help, see Claude Code development.