Getting Started with Claude Code: A practical guide for developers who want to ship from day one

Getting Started with Claude Code takes you from installation to real productivity in a single afternoon. Skip the theory — go straight to writing code, generating tests, navigating legacy codebases, and shipping commits with an AI agent in your terminal.

• How a real working session flows — from first prompt to merged PR
• How to write prompts that produce useful code on the first try
• How to point Claude Code at existing code: legacy projects, undocumented repos, inherited codebases
• How to generate tests automatically and maintain coverage without the usual excuses
• A complete Git workflow: branches, commits, conflict resolution, PR reviews
• How to configure CLAUDE.md so Claude follows your project's conventions
• A full chapter of recipes: problem, prompt, expected output, and what to tweak when it doesn't work

Every chapter includes real-world scenarios, copy-paste prompts, and honest explanations of what to adjust when things go sideways. These aren't toy examples — they're designed for your actual workflow.

The final chapter introduces agentic programming: chaining tasks, orchestrating multiple agents, and making the leap from user to architect of AI-powered workflows.

• You're a developer who installed Claude Code but hasn't found your groove yet
• You live in the terminal and use Git every day
• You want results on day one, not a lecture on how LLMs work
• You'd rather learn from real examples than scroll through reference docs

This guide will help you build a solid foundation, avoid bad practices and anti-patterns, and become a more effective programmer before diving into the advanced techniques covered in our book Claude Code: Advanced Tips for Power Users.