Module
Module 2 of 5Lesson 1 of 2~18 min

What Claude Code has in mind, and how to manage it

Lesson 1 of the module "Master context and CLAUDE.md" in the course "Work with Claude Code on a real project: context, planning, review".

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Lesson objective

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain what fills Claude Code's context window (instructions, CLAUDE.md, files read, command output, conversation), measure it with /context and choose between continuing, compacting, starting fresh or resuming a named session, taking cost into account.

Where it fits

Master context and CLAUDE.md

What does the agent know about my project at any moment, and how do I give it the right information without drowning it?

Lessons in this module

  1. What Claude Code has in mind, and how to manage it (this lesson)
  2. Write a CLAUDE.md that actually helps

What you will learn in the course

This lesson is part of the course Work with Claude Code on a real project: context, planning, review

  • Explain what fills Claude Code's context window and manage it (/context, /clear, /compact, resuming and naming sessions), taking cost into account.
  • Write a short, useful CLAUDE.md placed at the right level of the hierarchy (user, project, local, subdirectory, path-scoped rules), with imports if needed.
  • Run a task on existing code as explore, plan, code, commit, with plan mode, verification criteria and Git rather than checkpoints alone.
  • Choose and justify the right mechanism for a need (CLAUDE.md, skill or command, subagent, MCP server, hook) and set it up in the repository.
  • Choose a permission mode and write allow, ask and deny rules suited to the project's risks, in the right settings file.
  • Write simple hooks as deterministic guardrails (block, format, verify) and know their risks and limits.
  • Review the agent's work with a checklist (scope, tests, secrets, migrations, dependencies) and an independent review, and know when to automate it in non-interactive mode or in GitHub Actions.

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