Every time someone asks me how to get started with Claude Code, I realize I've been assuming they know things they don't.
So this is the post I wish someone gave me. No jargon. No skipping.
Here's the most important thing to know upfront: you don't need the terminal, the command line, or any coding skills to use Claude Code. Everything in this guide happens inside the Claude Code desktop app. You open it, you tell it what you want, and it does the work. If a step involves installing something or running a command, you just tell Claude Code to do it and it will.
That's the whole trick. Claude Code is the operating layer. Every other tool plugs into it.
What Claude Code actually is
Claude Code is a desktop app. You open it like you'd open Chrome or Slack. Inside the app you type what you want, and it does things on your computer. Reads files. Writes files. Installs tools. Uses other apps.
Regular Claude (the website) is a chatbot. Nice. Helpful. But it can't touch your computer.
Claude Code can. That's the whole difference, and it's the reason it replaces 80% of what I used to do manually.
Step 1: Download Claude Code
Go to claude.com/download. Get the desktop app. Install it. Sign in with your Claude account. If you don't have one, make one. This part is boring but you have to do it.
Right now you have a fancy chat window. The power comes next.
Step 2: Put 1Password in place before you do anything else
Every tool you connect to Claude Code needs a password or API key. GitHub, Anthropic, SendFox, Google Ads, the list gets long. You'll end up managing 20 of these.
Don't paste them in random places. One leak and someone runs up a $10K bill on your API. Put all of them in 1Password from day one.
1Password is a password manager. Think locked filing cabinet for every secret you have.
Here's how to set it up, all through the Claude Code app:
- Sign up at 1password.com in your browser. Free trial.
- Install the desktop app and the browser extension. 1Password's website walks you through it.
- Open Claude Code and say: "Install the 1Password CLI and sign me in." Claude Code handles the installation and walks you through the sign-in prompts.
Now whenever I need an API key, I tell Claude Code "grab the Anthropic key from 1Password." Done. The key never lives in a file, never gets committed to GitHub, never gets screenshotted into a support thread.
If you skip this step you will regret it in month two. Do it first.
Step 3: Get your Anthropic API key
Your Claude subscription covers Claude Code usage inside the desktop app. But anything you build that calls Claude directly, like the WhatsApp bot I wrote about last week, needs a separate API key.
- Go to console.anthropic.com
- Click Settings, then API Keys
- Click Create Key, copy the
sk-ant-...string - Open 1Password, create a new item called "Anthropic API Key", paste the key in
- Save
Now when a project needs it, you tell Claude Code to pull it from 1Password.
Step 4: Set up GitHub
GitHub is where code lives. Google Drive, but for code projects. Every project I build with Claude Code goes here.
Why: if my laptop dies tomorrow, nothing is lost. If I want to pick up a project on another machine, I just pull the repo. If I want to share something, it's already online.
- Go to github.com and sign up if you don't have an account
- Open Claude Code and say: "Install the GitHub CLI and log me in to my account." Claude Code runs the install and opens a browser window to authenticate.
Now Claude Code can create repos and push code without asking for your password every time.
Step 5: Skills are the instruction manual
A skill is a markdown file that teaches Claude Code how to do something specific.
Example. I have a skill called "newsletter." It says: when Nick runs /newsletter, read the latest blog post, write a short teaser email, build it into HTML using the base template, push it to SendFox as a draft. Four steps I'd otherwise do by hand every Wednesday.
You don't create skills by hand. You tell Claude Code:
"Create a skill called newsletter that reads my latest blog post, turns it into a teaser email, and pushes it to SendFox as a draft."
Claude Code writes the file in the right place. Then every time you type /newsletter, those instructions load automatically.
This is where the leverage lives. Any task you do more than twice should become a skill. Otherwise you're re-explaining the same thing over and over.
Step 6: Tools are the hands
Skills are instructions. Tools are actions.
Built-in tools you already have inside Claude Code:
- Read. Opens a file.
- Write. Creates or overwrites a file.
- Edit. Changes parts of an existing file.
- Bash. Runs commands for you so you don't have to.
- WebFetch. Grabs a web page.
That's enough for most things. Read, write, run, fetch.
For more specific jobs you add MCP servers, which are basically apps that plug into Claude Code. I have MCPs for Google Sheets, SendFox, and HubSpot. When I say "pull the spreadsheet," it uses the Google Sheets MCP.
Start with the built-ins. They cover 90% of what you need. Add MCPs later when you hit a wall.
Step 7: Voice files so it doesn't sound like AI
This is the one most people skip and then wonder why their AI writing sounds like AI writing.
A voice file is a markdown file that tells Claude Code how you write. Mine has things like:
- No em dashes
- No "here's the thing" or "it's not X, it's Y"
- Write like you're texting a smart friend
- Short paragraphs
- Show what broke, not just what worked
- Say what you mean
When I ask Claude Code to draft a blog post, it reads the voice file first. The output actually sounds like me.
I keep mine in a GitHub repo so every project can pull the same one. To start, just tell Claude Code: "Create a voice.md file with 10 rules about how I write. Ask me questions to figure out my style." It'll interview you and write the file.
Without this, every post has the same AI tells. Em dashes everywhere. Perfect grammar. No personality. Technically right and emotionally dead.
With it, reads like you wrote it, because the rules are yours.
Step 8: Build your first project
Time to actually make something. Let's say a blog.
Open Claude Code and tell it:
"Build me a personal blog. Use Next.js, put the markdown posts in a posts folder, and deploy it to Vercel. Make a basic homepage and one sample post. Set up the GitHub repo too."
Claude Code creates the folder, writes the files, sets up GitHub, and walks you through connecting it to Vercel. You never open the terminal. You never write code.
Now every future change, you just tell Claude Code what you want to update. It edits the files, commits, pushes, and Vercel deploys within 30 seconds.
Step 9: Make it your default workflow
Claude Code should be the way you interact with every project.
Pin it to your dock. Every recurring task becomes a skill. Every secret lives in 1Password. Every repo lives on GitHub. Every site lives on Vercel (or Cloudflare, or Netlify, whatever).
Once this is the default, you stop thinking about the plumbing. You think about what you want to build.
Step 10: What to build first
Don't start complicated. Build three small things, in this order:
-
A daily Slack message. Pick one metric you care about. Tell Claude Code to build a skill that pulls it and posts to Slack every morning. Teaches you APIs, scheduling, output formatting.
-
A content pipeline. Write one blog post in markdown. Tell Claude Code to turn it into a tweet, a LinkedIn post, and a newsletter. One input, three outputs. Teaches you skills and repetition.
-
An agent that answers questions about your business. Feed it your data, give it instructions, ask it things. When the answers are wrong, fix the instructions. Teaches you how to calibrate.
By the time you finish those three, you'll get it. You'll see where the leverage is.
The whole picture in one paragraph
Your laptop runs Claude Code. Secrets live in 1Password. Code lives in GitHub. Sites run on Vercel. Skills teach Claude Code how to do recurring jobs. Tools let it actually do things. Voice files make the output sound like you.
Every project uses the same pattern. By your third one, it takes 10 minutes instead of an hour.
That's the whole setup. Open Claude Code and tell it what you want. When it breaks, tell it what broke. That's how you learn.