Description:

Claude Code is Anthropic’s agentic coding assistant that runs directly in a developer’s terminal and works with the local codebase. It can analyze projects, edit files, run commands, and automate development tasks through natural-language instructions.

In this course, participants will learn how to use Claude Code to accelerate software development, automate engineering workflows, and build AI-assisted coding agents. Through demonstrations and hands-on labs, learners will explore Claude Code’s terminal interface, agent capabilities, configuration system, and integration with developer tools.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to integrate Claude Code into real-world development workflows and use it to automate complex engineering tasks.

Duration:

1 Day

Course Code: BDT 546

Learning Objectives:

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the architecture and capabilities of Claude Code
2. Install and configure Claude Code in a development environment
3. Use natural-language instructions to analyze and modify codebases
4. Automate coding workflows using Claude Code
5. Create and manage agents, skills, and commands
6. Integrate Claude Code with existing developer tools
7. Apply best practices for AI-assisted development

1. Basic familiarity with software development workflows
2. Basic experience using the command line (Linux, macOS, or Windows terminal)
3. Basic knowledge of Git and code repositories
4. Experience with a programming language (Python, JavaScript, etc.)

Course Outline:

1. Introduction to Claude Code

Topics Covered

1. What are AI coding assistants?
2. Overview of Anthropic Claude models
3. What is Claude Code?
4. Key capabilities of Claude Code
5. Claude Code vs traditional coding assistants

Key Concepts

1. Agentic coding tools
2. AI-assisted development workflows
3. Codebase understanding

Demonstration

Exploring Claude Code in the terminal

2. Installing and Configuring Claude Code

Topics Covered

1. System requirements
2. Installing Claude Code
3. Authentication and setup
4. Running Claude Code from a project directory
5. Configuring settings and preferences

Hands-On Lab

1. Install Claude Code
2. Initialize Claude Code in a project
3. Run basic commands 

3. Claude Code Architecture and Workflow

Topics Covered

1. How Claude Code works
2. Terminal-based AI interaction
3. Codebase context and file access
4. Command execution and automation
5. Interaction with Claude models

Key Concepts

1. Context awareness
2. Agentic reasoning
3. Safe execution and approvals

4. Working with Claude Code in the Terminal

Topics Covered

1. Claude interactive sessions
2. Asking questions about a codebase
3. Editing files with Claude Code
4. Running commands and scripts
5. Debugging code with Claude Code

Hands-On Lab

1. Explore an unfamiliar codebase using Claude Code
2. Fix a bug using Claude Code

5. Automating Development Tasks

Topics Covered

1. Code generation and refactoring
2. Automated documentation generation
3. Writing tests with Claude
4. Investigating build errors
5. Managing Git workflows

Hands-On Lab

Use Claude Code to:

1. Implement a feature
2. Generate tests
3. Commit changes

6. Customizing Claude Code

Topics Covered

1. Using configuration files (e.g., CLAUDE.md)
2. Defining coding standards and rules
3. Defining custom skills (e.g., SKILLS.md)
4. Customizing Claude behavior
5. Project-specific configuration

Hands-On Lab

1. Create CLAUDE.md and SKILLS.md files to guide Claude behavior
2. Create a reusable command

7. Agents and Sub-Agents

Topics Covered

1. Agent orchestration
2. Creating sub-agents
3. Multi-agent workflows
4. Delegation patterns
5. Context isolation

Hands-On Lab

Build a custom agent workflow

8. Best Practices for Using Claude Code

Topics Covered

1. Structuring prompts for coding tasks
2. Managing context
3. Ensuring safe command execution
4. Performance and cost considerations

Training material provided: Yes (Digital format)