Agentic coding
How to use
Claude Code.
Inspecting repositories, planning and implementing code changes, running development tools, debugging failures, and coordinating reviewable engineering work.
Claude Code is a agentic coding tool for terminal, IDE, web, and desktop. Inspecting repositories, planning and implementing code changes, running development tools, debugging failures, and coordinating reviewable engineering work. This guide covers the whole path in one place: official access, a first session that produces something reviewable, the checks that make output trustworthy, and the permissions worth limiting before you connect real work.
AI should make the work easier to inspect. If the workflow removes the source, the owner, or the review step, redesign the workflow.
Access & setup
Find, install, and sign in to Claude Code
Get into the official Claude Code experience with the right account and a setup you understand.
- 01
Start at https://claude.com/product/claude-code and confirm the domain before entering account or payment information.
- 02
Availability: macOS, Linux, and Windows, with terminal, IDE, web, desktop, and mobile access paths.
- 03
Anthropic documents native installers for macOS, Linux, and Windows. Authentication can use eligible Claude plans, Anthropic Console billing, or configured enterprise cloud platforms.
- 04
Sign in with the account you intend to keep using, then review plan, data, notification, and permission settings.
- 05
Run one low-risk test task before connecting sensitive files, repositories, or workspace data.
- Use official download pages.
- Review permissions during setup.
- Keep installers and applications updated.
First session
Your first useful Claude Code session
Learn the interaction loop using a small task with a clear outcome.
- 01
Install Claude Code from Anthropic’s official instructions and authenticate with the intended account or provider.
- 02
Open one repository, inspect its status and project instructions, then ask Claude Code to explain the relevant area before editing.
- 03
Require a scoped plan and explicit verification commands.
- 04
Review every changed file and run the project’s checks before accepting or publishing the work.
- State the outcome before the background.
- Provide the real source material.
- Review the result before expanding the task.
Quality control
Check the quality of Claude Code output
Turn generated code into a change you would put your name on in review.
- 01
Restate the intended behaviour and the acceptance criteria before reading a single generated line.
- 02
Read the diff rather than the chat summary; the summary describes intent, the diff describes what actually changed.
- 03
Run the test suite, then write a test that would fail if the change were wrong, and confirm it passes for the right reason.
- 04
Check the edges the model tends to skip: error paths, null and empty cases, concurrency, and migration or rollback behaviour.
- 05
Trace every new dependency, network call, and file write, and confirm each one is genuinely required.
- Review the diff, never the description of the diff.
- A passing test suite proves the tests pass, not that the change is correct.
- Keep changes small enough that a human can actually review them.
Privacy & permissions
Use Claude Code safely
Give the tool enough repository access to help, and no more than that.
- 01
Decide what the tool may read and what it may write before connecting a repository.
- 02
Scope tokens and integrations to the narrowest repository, branch, and permission set that still works.
- 03
Keep secrets out of the context window: use environment variables and secret stores, never inline credentials.
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Require review before generated code touches authentication, payments, permissions, migrations, or deletion paths.
- 05
Audit what the integration retained after the session, and revoke access that is no longer needed.
- Claude Code can read files, modify code, and run commands according to granted permissions. Keep scope narrow, protect secrets, understand permission prompts, and never publish changes you have not reviewed.
- Follow your organisation's approved-use policy.
- Never treat fluent output as authorization to act.
Core workflows
Step-by-step ways to use Claude Code for the work it does best.
Each workflow below has its own outcome, steps and review checkpoints.
Move from issue to reviewed diff while controlling permissions, commands, and scope.
↓ 02 WorkflowGive Claude Code durable project contextCreate concise repository guidance that improves future sessions without burying the agent in rules.
↓Workflow 01
Complete a safe repository change with Claude Code
Move from issue to reviewed diff while controlling permissions, commands, and scope.
Outcome: Implement one code change that you understand and can verify.
- 01
Open the correct repository and inspect status, branch, instructions, and available checks.
- 02
Ask Claude Code to locate and explain the relevant behavior without editing.
- 03
Provide acceptance criteria and require a file-by-file plan.
- 04
Approve only necessary commands and inspect every changed file.
- 05
Run focused tests followed by the project’s standard validation before committing.
What good use looks like
- Start from a clean checkpoint.
- Keep command permissions narrow.
- Never accept an unexplained dependency change.
Workflow 02
Give Claude Code durable project context
Create concise repository guidance that improves future sessions without burying the agent in rules.
Outcome: Make Claude Code consistently follow the project’s real conventions.
- 01
Identify authoritative commands, architecture boundaries, style rules, and prohibited changes.
- 02
Write guidance as short, testable statements in the appropriate project context file.
- 03
Point to canonical examples instead of duplicating large documentation blocks.
- 04
Test the guidance with a small planning task and correct any ambiguous instruction.
- 05
Review the context file when tooling, architecture, or team policy changes.
What good use looks like
- Document enduring rules, not task chatter.
- Prefer checks over subjective wording.
- Keep secrets out of context files.
Official references
Check the current product documentation.
Features, plan limits, availability, and data controls change. These official pages are the starting points used for this guide.