Course introduction

Lesson objective

By the end of this introduction, you will know what you will be able to do (frame Claude Code on a real repository: context, planning, extensions, permissions, hooks, review), the deliverable you will install on your repository and the four modules that get you there.

Where it fits

Overview

What will I set up on my repository in this course, and in what order?

Lessons in this module

1. Course introduction (this lesson)

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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