, I’ll cowl my expertise on how one can get probably the most out of Claude Code. Claude Code is a robust coding command-line interface (CLI) instrument. You possibly can open it instantly in your terminal and begin coding.
This makes it an efficient instrument each for proficient coders aware of a terminal. Nevertheless, it additionally works nicely for non-technical individuals, since they’ll code just by typing pure language, and don’t should work together with an advanced IDE.
On this article, I’ll cowl why you must think about using Claude Code for coding, highlighting its effectiveness at implementing code with little to no handbook overview. Moreover, I’ll cowl some particular methods I make the most of to get probably the most out of Claude Code, earlier than highlighting some limitations of Claude Code.
I’m not affiliated with Claude Code, and I’m merely writing this text from my expertise utilizing the instrument.
Why use Claude Code
If you wish to apply coding these days, you must embrace agentic coding. I believe this is applicable whether or not you simply began programming or for those who’ve been programming for 10+ years. All of us needs to be leveraging coding brokers to grow to be extra environment friendly engineers.
Now you could have a big number of such instruments to select from. Claude Code is certainly one of a number of CLI instruments, with another choices being OpenAI Codex or Gemini CLI. These CLI instruments are good for those who don’t want to take a look at the code you’re growing, sometimes for easier implementations or bug fixes.
Nevertheless, I’m noticing an increasing number of that my coding brokers are capable of implement bigger scale implementation with fewer and fewer errors, which is noteworthy. I consider we’ll quickly be in an period the place coding brokers are doing all coding (you can additionally argue we’re already there), and in such a state of affairs, CLI instruments will probably be highly effective, because you by no means have the necessity to take a look at any code.
In the event you do wish to look extra on the code, nonetheless, you’ll be able to take into account extra built-in agentic coding experiences, in instruments equivalent to Cursor or Antigravity, that are forks of VS Code, however with agentic performance deeply built-in into the appliance.
I like utilizing each CLI’s and IDEs for agentic coding. If I wish to code with out performing handbook evaluations of the code, I have a tendency to make use of Claude Code an increasing number of. I believe eventualities the place you must strongly take into account using Claude Code are:
- You’re fixing a bug
- You’re investigating manufacturing logs
- You’re implementing a simple or medium problem function
In the event you’re in any of those conditions, or comparable, I strongly urge you to check out Claude Code, or another CLI coding instrument, and see how nicely it performs.
Methods I exploit
On this part, I’ll cowl a number of the methods I make the most of to get probably the most out of Claude Code. Every subsection will cowl a selected approach, together with why I believe it’s vital.
Slash instructions
Slash instructions are prompts that you just retailer for simple entry. You sometimes do that on a immediate you run frequently, equivalent to:
- Investigating manufacturing logs
- Making a PR
- Checking if code is production-ready
The second I understand I’m working a immediate for the second time, I create a slash command with the immediate. This makes it way more environment friendly to run the immediate sooner or later, since I can merely name the command beginning with a slash (/), as a substitute of typing out the immediate each time.
The principle cause for utilizing slash instructions is time financial savings and consistency. Writing out prompts takes time, in fact, and moreover, you’ll typically be inconsistent when writing out the identical immediate a number of occasions.
For instance, when you have a immediate for checking if code is production-ready, you might need a guidelines the agent ought to undergo, equivalent to:
- On the lookout for lacking sorts
- Operating pre-commit checks
- Spinning up the Docker picture
Nevertheless, for those who’re typing out the immediate each time, you danger forgetting any of those factors, which then makes the agent much less efficient.
Consumer reminiscence and mission reminiscence
I’m additionally a heavy person of each the person reminiscence and mission reminiscence in Claude Code. Consumer reminiscence is the reminiscence that applies to your whole Claude code periods, whereas mission reminiscence is the reminiscence that solely applies to the folder and subfolders you’re at the moment working in.
I make the most of the person reminiscence every time I need Claude to recollect particular preferences I’ve that apply throughout repositories. That is for instance:
- Find out how to create good PR’s
- Find out how to verify manufacturing logs
- Details about my IaC stack
If I’ve preferences that solely apply inside a selected mission (or not less than that don’t apply to all my coding initiatives), I retailer them within the mission reminiscence, in a file referred to as AGENTS.MD. I have a tendency to make use of AGENTS.md as a substitute of CLAUDE.md, as a result of then all my coding brokers will discover the file, for instance, if I determine to attempt Cursor or different instruments sooner or later.
Using reminiscence is vital, because it prevents Claude Code from making the identical mistake twice. If Claude used the flawed desk title or checked the flawed log group, you’ll be able to retailer in its reminiscence which mistake it made, and the right desk title and log group title. Once you work together with Claude Code sooner or later, it should then keep in mind this data and be extra environment friendly subsequent time.
In the event you proceed doing this for all of the errors Claude Code makes, it is going to be personalised to your codebase and preferences and will probably be far simpler for you as a coding agent.
Plan mode
Plan mode can be extremely vital when utilizing Claude Code. Plan mode is basically the anomaly killer. Once you immediate Claude Code in plan mode, it should analyze your immediate and codebase and ask questions on something that’s unclear or ambiguous.
Plan mode is the anomaly killer
That is tremendous useful, because it’s near unattainable to write down a very unambiguous immediate, and having Claude Code establish unclear components of your immediate and ask you questions on it’s a good strategy to align on how a coding implementation needs to be completed.
I in all probability begin 90% of my Claude Code periods with plan mode; the one exceptions are once I’m doing a little tremendous easy fixes or just writing experimentation code. I like to recommend making an attempt plan mode as a lot as attainable, and solely not utilizing it if you actually really feel it’s not obligatory.
Do every little thing with Claude
My final tip is that solely your creativeness limits what you are able to do with Claude Code. For instance:
- Do you wish to make a presentation? Ask Claude to make a presentation in Latex Code
- Do you wish to analyze CloudWatch logs? Give Claude AWS permissions and have it analyze for you
- Do you wish to construct a portfolio web site? Have Claude vibe it up and deploy it to Vercel. You don’t even have to depart the terminal
The probabilities are infinite, and I strongly urge you to make use of the next mindset:
Everytime you encounter an issue, you must suppose: How can I resolve and automate this utilizing Claude Code
This mindset will prevent a variety of time, because you’ll understand that a variety of duties might be solved by merely offering Claude with the required permissions, and let it try to resolve the issue for you.
Challenges with Claude Code
I’ve talked about a variety of constructive sides of Claude Code on this article, as a result of it’s a extremely good instrument that makes me far simpler as an engineer. Nevertheless, there are additionally some downsides to Claude Code.
The primary problem I’ve with Claude Code is that it’s a bit gradual typically, particularly once I evaluate it to utilizing Cursor. This occurs though I’m utilizing Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Opus 4.5 in Cursor.
I’m not completely positive why that is the case, however I typically discover that when analyzing log teams or performing easy fixes, Claude in Cursor is solely quicker than utilizing Claude Code.
One other draw back to Claude Code is that it’s purely terminal-based. If you wish to perceive your code higher and overview it, I might encourage you to make use of an IDE as a substitute. It also needs to be famous that there exists a Claude Code extension for VS Code, which might be put in in any VS Code fork as nicely, equivalent to Cursor.
Conclusion
On this article, I’ve talked about Claude Code, protecting why and when you must make the most of the instrument. I highlighted that Claude Code excels at coding if you don’t have to carry out handbook evaluations of the code, which is an increasing number of typically the case with the speedy enhancements in LLMs. I then coated particular methods I exploit to get probably the most out of Claude, equivalent to heavy utilization of reminiscence and plan mode, in addition to making an attempt to use Claude Code to almost each downside I encounter. I consider coding brokers are right here to remain, and that you must embrace the know-how as a lot as you’ll be able to. It’s best to always be testing the bounds of what these coding agent instruments can do, in an effort to grow to be as efficient an engineer as attainable.
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