What is Claude Code?
Claude Code is the most powerful version of Claude — and, in plain words, an AI teammate that lives on your computer. Unlike a normal chat, it can actually do things: read and create files, run commands and tasks, test its own work, connect to your tools, and run jobs in the background — while you watch and steer. It's the difference between asking an expert for advice and having that expert sitting at your desk, doing the work with you.
What you'll get: a clear grasp of what makes Claude Code different from a normal chat, the three modes — Chat, Cowork and Code — and which one to use in each situation. Plus a first real prompt, ready to paste.
The head chef and the junior chef
Think of a very fast junior chef. It can cook almost anything, but it needs a clear recipe and someone tasting along the way. You are the head chef: give clear instructions, taste often, keep quality high. You stay in charge — Claude does the heavy lifting.
What it can do: the three capabilities
Reads your project
No copy-pasting code. It opens your files directly.
Writes & tests code
It makes changes and runs the tests to check them.
Uses tools
GitHub, databases, the web — through "MCP" connectors.
The three modes, and when to use each
Chat
Like Claude on the web: you talk, it answers with text.
Use it for: quick questions, drafting something loose, thinking out loud.
Cowork
Works inside a folder on your computer and remembers context between sessions.
Use it for: real projects — content, marketing, documents, analysis.
Code
The most powerful: full access to your terminal, can run automatic routines.
Use it for: automation, programming, tasks that run on their own.
For almost everything in this course you'll use Cowork or Code — which is why you need the desktop app (the browser version doesn't have them).
Where does it run? This course uses Claude Code inside the Claude Desktop app: a normal window on your Mac or Windows, no scary black terminal required.
Your first real prompt
Once it's installed (next lesson), open a Cowork session pointed at any folder with documents in it and paste this as-is:
I'm brand new to Claude Code. Look at the files in this folder, give me a short summary of what's in here, and suggest one small task you could do for me right now — for example organizing files or summarizing a document. Wait for my approval before changing anything.
Why this changes everything
When Claude can only talk, you're still the one copying, pasting, organizing and executing. When Claude can work on your computer, those hours of mechanical work disappear and you're left with what actually matters: judgment, strategy, decisions. That's the heart of everything you'll learn here.
What's next
In the coming lessons you'll: install it, run your first session, understand skills (the concept that turns it into a specialist in your field), and connect it to your real tools. Let's start with the installation.
10-minute practice. Write down three mechanical tasks you repeat every week (copy-pasting information, organizing files, drafting the same kind of text). For each one, decide which mode you'd use: Chat, Cowork or Code. Keep that list — it becomes your practice material the moment you install the app in the next lesson. And if you already have Claude Desktop, paste the prompt above into a Cowork session.