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Claude Code

Claude Code Onboarding Guide

This is an internal guide shared publicly for getting started with Claude Code, focusing on terminal usage and foundational concepts.

Primary Reading

We recommend a heavy read of Sankalp’s comprehensive writeup as essential background material, though completing it isn’t required before beginning projects.

Foundational Concepts to Understand

Before diving in, make sure you grasp these core topics:

  • Workflows versus agents — understanding the difference between scripted steps and autonomous tool use
  • Commands — how to invoke and chain Claude Code commands
  • Git — Claude Code works deeply with version control; comfort with git basics is essential
  • Subagents — how Claude Code delegates work to specialized sub-processes
  • Skills — reusable capabilities you can teach Claude Code
  • Plugins — extending Claude Code with external integrations
  • Hooks — automating actions triggered by specific events

Setup Recommendations

We recommend using Claude Code through the terminal rather than the Claude app interface. VS Code is the optimal balance of simplicity and utility, though alternatives like Cursor or Warp are viable.

Two instructional videos provide setup guidance for getting your environment configured.

Advanced Topics

Once you’re comfortable with the basics, explore:

  • MCP versus CLI distinctions — when to use the Model Context Protocol versus direct CLI
  • Strategic context configuration — setting up CLAUDE.md and project context for better results
  • Context engineering approaches — structuring information so Claude Code can use it effectively
  • Compound engineering methodologies — building multi-step automated workflows

First Project Strategy

Start modestly. Take a current task you are working on that you know how to do manually. Focus on single-step automation with one API call initially, then gradually expand scope as confidence grows.

The goal is to build intuition for what Claude Code is good at before attempting ambitious multi-step projects.

What’s Next

This content addresses Claude Code generally rather than go-to-market strategy specifically. Video content is planned for each concept, with additional GTM-focused training available through YouTube and Zevenue services.