Free guide · 29 chapters · 206 pages
The Claude Code
Field Guide
Most people use Claude Code like a smarter autocomplete. They type a prompt, get some code back, paste it in, and move on. That works — until you hit something real. Then it breaks down fast.
This is what actually works, written from daily use: how to give it context worth having, when to let it run, when to stop it, and how to catch the confident mistakes before they ship.
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What's in it
- Part 1 Getting started What Claude Code actually is, installing it, and the mental model that separates good sessions from frustrating ones.
- Part 2 Working smarter CLAUDE.md, context management, the permission model, memory, and connecting it to your real toolchain over MCP.
- Part 3 Advanced patterns Hooks that enforce rather than suggest, skills, sub-agents, running several sessions at once, and headless mode.
- Part 4 Field-tested workflows A daily rhythm, TDD that actually holds, git discipline, root-cause debugging, automation pipelines, and the failure modes you will hit.
- Part 5 Extending Claude Code Packaging your setup as a plugin, the Agent SDK, sandboxing and checkpointing, and letting automated review help without handing it your judgement.
- Part 6 Beyond the terminal Web, desktop and mobile, CI, and the browser and chat surfaces — including exactly where each one widens your blast radius.
Plus five appendices: a CLAUDE.md starter template, permissions and hooks references, a patterns cheatsheet, and the full command reference.
One honest thing
The first version of this guide was written in March 2026. By July it had drifted badly enough that three of its examples were broken as printed — hook scripts that blocked silently, permissions examples that were inert config, and a test-enforcement gate the text promised would stop a write and which never fired.
All of it was rebuilt against the current documentation, and every claim in this edition was checked rather than carried over. It says on the title page which version it was verified against, so you can tell how much to trust it six months from now.
Claude Code ships roughly once a week. If something in the guide disagrees with your terminal, believe your terminal.