Published February 23, 2026 · 22 min read
Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding CLI that has become the go-to tool for developers who want an AI pair programmer that understands their entire codebase. It runs in your terminal, reads and writes files, executes commands, manages git, and builds features autonomously. But most people only scratch the surface of what it can do.
After months of daily use building production applications, we have collected the 25 most impactful tips that separate casual users from power users. These are the techniques that turn Claude Code from a helpful assistant into a force multiplier that genuinely changes how fast you ship software.
The single most impactful thing you can do with Claude Code is write a good CLAUDE.md file. This file lives in your project root, and Claude Code reads it automatically at the start of every session. It is persistent context that shapes every interaction.
A great CLAUDE.md includes:
The more specific your CLAUDE.md, the better every single Claude Code interaction becomes. Update it as your project evolves. Think of it as documentation that your AI pair programmer reads before every conversation.
Claude Code supports CLAUDE.md files at multiple levels: project root, subdirectories, and your home directory (~/.claude/CLAUDE.md). The home-level file applies to all projects. Directory-level files add context for specific parts of the codebase. Use this hierarchy to keep context focused and avoid bloated root files.
Before any non-trivial task, use plan mode. Type /plan or start your message with "Plan:" and Claude Code will outline its approach before writing any code. This catches misunderstandings before they become wasted effort.
Plan mode is especially valuable for:
Review the plan, suggest modifications, then tell Claude Code to execute. This two-step approach produces dramatically better results than letting the AI dive straight into code generation.
Claude Code has built-in slash commands that control its behavior. These are the ones every user should know:
| Command | What It Does |
|---|---|
/help | Show all available commands and features |
/plan | Enter plan mode — outline approach before coding |
/compact | Compress conversation to save context window space |
/clear | Clear the conversation and start fresh |
/review | Review recent code changes (works with git diff) |
/commit | Stage and commit changes with an AI-generated message |
/fast | Toggle fast mode for faster responses (same model) |
/status | Show current session info, model, and context usage |
/config | View or modify configuration settings |
/compact is particularly important. Long conversations consume context window tokens. When you notice the context getting full, run /compact to compress the history while preserving key information. This lets you keep working without starting a new session.
Hooks are custom scripts that run automatically at specific points in Claude Code's workflow. They let you enforce standards, automate repetitive tasks, and create guardrails without relying on the AI to remember every rule.
Configure hooks in your project's .claude/settings.json:
{
"hooks": {
"PreCommit": [
"npm run lint",
"npm run test -- --changed"
],
"PostFileWrite": [
"prettier --write $FILE"
]
}
}
PreCommit hooks run before Claude Code creates a git commit. Use them to lint, test, and validate. If the hook fails, the commit is blocked — ensuring no broken code gets committed.
PostFileWrite hooks run after Claude Code writes a file. Use them for formatting (Prettier, Black), import sorting, or any per-file validation.
Hooks are the most underused Claude Code feature. They transform Claude Code from a tool you have to babysit into a tool that enforces your standards automatically.
Claude Code can spawn subagents — parallel Claude instances that work on separate tasks simultaneously. Instead of doing tasks sequentially, you can ask Claude Code to work on multiple things at once.
When you describe a task with independent components, Claude Code may automatically parallelize them using the Task tool. You can also explicitly request parallelism:
Each subagent gets its own context and works independently. The main agent coordinates the results. This is especially powerful for large refactoring tasks, test writing, and documentation updates where the individual pieces do not depend on each other.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers extend Claude Code's capabilities beyond the filesystem. With MCP servers, Claude Code can query databases, search the web, manage Docker containers, interact with APIs, and more.
Configure MCP servers in .claude/settings.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"postgres": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres",
"postgresql://localhost:5432/mydb"]
},
"github": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
"env": { "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_..." }
}
}
}
With a Postgres MCP server connected, you can say "check the users table for accounts created today" and Claude Code queries your actual database. With a GitHub MCP server, you can say "create an issue for this bug" and it creates a real GitHub issue. Read our complete MCP guide for more.
Our digital toolkit includes Claude Code configuration templates, CLAUDE.md examples, and workflow guides.
Get the Toolkit Read More GuidesStop writing commit messages manually. The /commit command analyzes your staged changes and generates a descriptive commit message that accurately reflects what changed and why. It follows conventional commit formats and includes the right level of detail. You can review and edit before confirming.
Claude Code can create pull requests directly. Ask it to "create a PR for this branch" and it will analyze all commits since branching, write a title and description, push to remote, and create the PR via the GitHub CLI. It generates better PR descriptions than most humans because it has seen every change in context.
The /worktree command creates an isolated git worktree so you can work on a separate task without disturbing your current branch. This is invaluable when you need to context-switch: start a worktree, do the work, merge back, and your original branch is untouched.
Claude Code is excellent at resolving merge conflicts. After a failed merge or rebase, say "resolve the merge conflicts" and Claude Code will read the conflicted files, understand both sides of the conflict, and make intelligent resolution decisions based on the intent of each change. Review the resolution before accepting it.
"Add a rate limiter to the API that limits each user to 100 requests per minute" is better than "add a middleware that checks a Redis counter." Describing intent lets Claude Code choose the best implementation, which is often better than what you would have specified.
End your prompts with clear success criteria: "This is done when: 1) the test suite passes, 2) the login page shows a loading spinner during auth, 3) failed attempts show the error message from the API." This gives Claude Code a clear target and reduces back-and-forth.
When something breaks, copy the full error message and paste it into Claude Code. Do not summarize or paraphrase. The raw error contains details (file paths, line numbers, stack traces) that Claude Code uses to diagnose and fix the problem quickly. Include the command you ran that produced the error.
When you want to understand something without changing code, say "explain how the auth flow works in this project without making any changes." Claude Code will read the relevant files and give you a detailed walkthrough. This is the fastest way to onboard onto an unfamiliar codebase.
When your prompt involves specific files, name them: "Update the user schema in prisma/schema.prisma to add an avatar_url field, then update the types in lib/types.ts." Explicit file references eliminate ambiguity and ensure Claude Code modifies the right files.
The context window is finite. Long conversations eventually fill it up, and you will notice Claude Code forgetting earlier parts of the conversation. Do not wait for this to happen. Run /compact proactively after completing a significant feature or when the conversation has been going for a while. It compresses the history while keeping the essential information.
AI coding tools work better with well-structured projects. Use clear file names, consistent directory structures, and co-locate related files. A file named UserProfile.tsx with UserProfile.test.tsx and UserProfile.module.css next to it is immediately clear to Claude Code. Random file names in flat directories create confusion.
Like .gitignore, the .claudeignore file tells Claude Code which files and directories to skip when reading your codebase. Exclude node_modules, build outputs, large data files, and anything that is not relevant to your development work. This keeps the context clean and prevents Claude Code from wasting tokens on irrelevant files.
Claude Code can process images. When you have a visual bug (misaligned elements, wrong colors, broken layout), take a screenshot and paste it into the conversation. Claude Code will see the visual issue and generate the CSS or HTML fix. This is faster and more accurate than describing visual problems in words.
Claude Code accepts piped input from the command line. You can pipe a file, command output, or anything else directly into Claude Code:
cat error.log | claude "What is causing these errors?" git diff | claude "Review these changes for bugs" curl api.example.com/health | claude "Is this API response normal?"
This is incredibly powerful for automation. You can integrate Claude Code into shell scripts, CI pipelines, and monitoring workflows.
The --print flag (or -p) runs Claude Code non-interactively and prints the result to stdout. Combined with piping, this lets you use Claude Code in scripts:
claude -p "Generate a migration for adding an email_verified column to users" > migration.sql
This is the foundation for building Claude Code into automated workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and custom tooling.
For large projects, use separate Claude Code sessions for separate concerns. One session for backend work, one for frontend, one for tests. Each session builds up relevant context for its domain. This is more effective than a single session trying to hold the entire project in context.
Claude Code supports custom skills — reusable commands that you define and invoke with a slash. You can create skills for your team's common workflows: /deploy-staging, /run-migration, /update-deps. Skills encapsulate multi-step processes into single commands, reducing repetitive instructions.
The most effective Claude Code workflow for production development follows this pattern:
/commit after every working piece/review to review all changes before PRThis workflow produces clean git histories, well-tested code, and professional pull requests. It is the same workflow experienced developers use, accelerated by AI.
Create a collection of CLAUDE.md files for different project types. A Next.js template, a Python API template, a static site template. When you start a new project, drop in the relevant template and you immediately get high-quality, context-aware AI assistance without writing project context from scratch every time.
Store these templates in ~/.claude/templates/ and copy the relevant one when starting a new project. Over time, you build a library of refined configurations that encode your preferences and standards.
| Category | Command / Technique | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | CLAUDE.md in project root | Every project, always |
| Planning | /plan or "Plan:" prefix | Before any non-trivial task |
| Context | /compact | When conversation gets long |
| Git | /commit | After every working feature |
| Review | /review | Before creating PRs |
| Speed | /fast | For simple tasks that need quick output |
| Automation | Hooks in .claude/settings.json | Linting, testing, formatting |
| Extensions | MCP servers | Database, API, service integration |
| Parallelism | Subagents / Task tool | Independent, parallelizable work |
| Scripts | claude -p "prompt" | CI/CD, automation, scripting |
Go deeper with these related guides:
The developers who get the most value from Claude Code are the ones who invest time in setup: writing a thorough CLAUDE.md, configuring hooks, connecting MCP servers, and learning the slash commands. The first hour of setup pays for itself within the first day of use. Do the setup work. The compound returns are massive.
CLAUDE.md templates, hook configurations, MCP server setups, and workflow guides for Claude Code power users.
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