Level 1 · Basic
Working with Claude Code
The student can brief Claude well, keep it on track across sessions, check its work and recover when something breaks. These habits are used in every later lesson.
- 6lessons
- 4.2 hof lessons
- 2.7 hhomework
- 1checkpoints
Lessons
- 1.1
Writing a good brief
45 min + 25 homeThe student gets the result they wanted on the first or second try.
What the lesson covers
- Prerequisites
- Checkpoint
lesson-0.4. - Covers
- The parts of a brief: purpose, context, what "done" looks like, constraints.
- Why explaining the reason behind a request improves the result.
- Showing examples and references (screenshots, links, existing files).
- Asking Claude to ask questions first when the task is unclear.
- Do along
- Rewrite three weak requests ("make a nice form") into full briefs and compare the outputs side by side.
- Done when
- The student has a personal brief template saved in the project.
- Homework
- Write and run one brief for a small piece of the student's own business, write three constraints with a "because", and have Claude interview them about one undecided section and save the resulting brief.
What the lesson covers
- Prerequisites
- Lesson 1.1; the project repository from 0.4.
- Covers
- Why a new session starts without memory of the previous one.
- What belongs in
CLAUDE.md: project purpose, stack, commands, conventions, rules. - Generating a first version with
/initand editing it by hand. - Keeping it short and current; what does not belong there.
- Do along
- Create
CLAUDE.mdfor the course project and prove it works by asking a question in a fresh session that only the file can answer. - Done when
- A new session answers correctly from
CLAUDE.mdwithout being told. - Homework
- Rewrite four vague rules as checkable ones and add two for the student's own business, run the "delete test" on
CLAUDE.mdline by line, and create a short personal~/.claude/CLAUDE.mdof preferences.
What the lesson covers
- Prerequisites
- Lesson 1.2 —
CLAUDE.mdexists. - Covers
- Plan mode: Claude investigates and proposes, the student approves.
- Reading a plan critically: scope, order, risks, what was left out.
- Splitting a large task into steps that can each be checked.
- When planning is overkill.
- Do along
- Plan a three-page mini-site in plan mode, ask for one change to the plan, approve it, let Claude build it.
- Done when
- The result matches the approved plan and the student can point to where they changed it.
- Homework
- Plan and build a one- or two-page practice site for the student's own business with one marked plan change, split a larger task into checkable steps without building it, and sort six possible changes into "plan" or "just ask".
What the lesson covers
- Prerequisites
- The mini-site built in 1.3.
- Covers
- Reading a diff without knowing how to code: what changed, where, how much.
- Asking Claude to explain a change in plain language.
- Asking Claude to prove it: run the app, run a test, show the output.
- Common failure signs: untested claims, unrelated edits, invented details.
- Do along
- Give Claude a task with a hidden trap supplied in the lesson, catch the problem through review, and have it fixed.
- Done when
- The student has a written five-point review checklist and used it once.
- Homework
- Review a second small change with the five-point checklist, rewrite the weak price request as a brief that closes all six holes, and note which warning signs appeared in the trap run.
What the lesson covers
- Prerequisites
- Lesson 1.4; the three broken mini-projects downloaded from the lesson materials.
- Covers
- Where errors show up: terminal, browser console, network tab, server logs.
- Giving Claude the evidence: exact error text, screenshot, steps to reproduce.
- Asking for the cause before the fix.
- When to roll back with Git and try a different approach.
- Do along
- Three broken mini-projects supplied with the lesson (a visual bug, a crash, a silent failure); diagnose and fix each with Claude.
- Done when
- All three work, and the student can state the cause of each in one sentence.
- Homework
- Do a roll-back drill on a deliberately bad change, diagnose a mystery bug Claude hides in a copy of one project, and list where to look first for five problems the student's own site could have.
- 1.6
Extending Claude: skills, MCP servers and subagents
45 min + 30 homeThe student knows what extra abilities exist and installs the ones the course uses.
What the lesson covers
- Prerequisites
- The mini-site from 1.3; a Chromium-based browser.
- Covers
- Skills: packaged instructions for a kind of task.
- MCP servers: connections to outside tools such as a browser or a database.
- Subagents: handing a side task to a separate Claude.
- Trust and safety: what an extension can access, and when not to install one.
- Do along
- Connect a browser-automation MCP server and have Claude open the mini-site from 1.3, take a screenshot and describe what it sees.
- Done when
- Claude reports on the page from a real browser session.
- Homework
- Turn the review checklist into a skill and run it once, have Claude check the other two mini-site pages in the browser, try a subagent, and write a trust check for one extension without installing it.