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- Add comprehensive multi-instance orchestration guide (391 lines) - Document Boris Cherny case study (259 PRs/30 days) - Include Anthropic study metrics (132 engineers, +50% productivity) - Add decision matrix, cost analysis, implementation phases - Update reference.yaml with 10 new entries - Fix table of contents (add 9.12-9.17) - Bump version to 3.9.10 Sources: - InfoQ: Claude Code Creator Workflow (2026-01-09) - Anthropic Research: How AI is Transforming Work (2025-08) Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
20 KiB
Claude Code Guide
Complete guide to Claude Code with 60+ production-ready templates
⚡ Quick Start
Quickest path: Cheat Sheet — 1 printable page with daily essentials
Interactive onboarding (no clone needed):
claude "Fetch and follow the onboarding instructions from: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlorianBruniaux/claude-code-ultimate-guide/main/tools/onboarding-prompt.md"
Browse directly: Full Guide | Examples | Quiz
Prerequisites & Minimal CLAUDE.md Template
Prerequisites: Node.js 18+ | Anthropic API key
# Project: [NAME]
## Tech Stack
- Language: [e.g., TypeScript]
- Framework: [e.g., Next.js 14]
- Testing: [e.g., Vitest]
## Commands
- Build: `npm run build`
- Test: `npm test`
- Lint: `npm run lint`
## Rules
- Run tests before marking tasks complete
- Follow existing code patterns
- Keep commits atomic and conventional
Save as CLAUDE.md in your project root. Claude reads it automatically.
Why This Guide?
The problem: Awesome-lists give links, not learning paths. Official docs are dense. Tutorials get outdated in weeks.
This guide: Structured learning path with 69 copy-paste templates, from first install to advanced workflows.
Reading time: Quick Start ~15 min. Full guide ~3 hours (most read by section).
By Florian BRUNIAUX | Founding Engineer @Méthode Aristote
👥 Not a Developer?
Claude Cowork is the companion guide for non-technical users (knowledge workers, assistants, managers).
Same agentic capabilities as Claude Code, but through a visual interface with no coding required.
→ Claude Cowork Guide — File organization, document generation, automated workflows
🎯 Learning Paths
Junior Developer — Foundation path (7 steps)
- Quick Start — Install & first workflow
- Essential Commands — The 7 commands
- Context Management — Critical concept
- Memory Files — Your first CLAUDE.md
- Learning with AI — Use AI without becoming dependent ⭐
- TDD Workflow — Test-first development
- Cheat Sheet — Print this
Senior Developer — Intermediate path (6 steps)
- Core Concepts — Mental model
- Plan Mode — Safe exploration
- Methodologies — TDD, SDD, BDD reference
- Agents — Custom AI personas
- Hooks — Event automation
- CI/CD Integration — Pipelines
Power User — Comprehensive path (7 steps)
- Complete Guide — End-to-end
- Architecture — How Claude Code works
- Security Hardening — MCP vetting, injection defense
- MCP Servers — Extended capabilities
- Trinity Pattern — Advanced workflows
- Observability — Monitor costs & sessions
- Examples — Production templates
Product Manager — Overview path (5 steps)
- What's Inside — Scope
- Golden Rules — Key principles
- Data Privacy — Retention & compliance
- Adoption Approaches — Team strategies
- Context Management — Why it matters
DevOps / SRE — Infrastructure path (5 steps)
- DevOps & SRE Guide — FIRE framework for infrastructure diagnosis
- K8s Troubleshooting — Prompts by symptom
- Incident Response — Solo & multi-agent workflows
- IaC Patterns — Terraform, Ansible, GitOps
- Guardrails — Security boundaries & team adoption
📚 What's Inside
Core Documentation
| File | Purpose | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Guide | Complete reference, 10 sections | ~3 hours |
| Cheat Sheet | 1-page printable reference | 5 min |
| Architecture | How Claude Code works internally | 25 min |
| Methodologies | TDD, SDD, BDD reference | 20 min |
| Workflows | Practical guides (TDD, Plan-Driven) | 30 min |
| Data Privacy | Retention & compliance | 10 min |
| Security Hardening | MCP vetting, injection defense | 25 min |
| DevOps & SRE | FIRE framework, K8s troubleshooting, incident response | 30 min |
| Claude Code Releases | Official release history | 10 min |
Repository Structure
claude-code-ultimate-guide/
├── guide/ # 📖 Core documentation
│ ├── ultimate-guide.md # Complete reference (~11550 lines)
│ ├── cheatsheet.md # 1-page printable reference
│ ├── architecture.md # How Claude Code works internally
│ ├── methodologies.md # 15 development methodologies
│ └── workflows/ # TDD, SDD, Plan-Driven guides
│
├── examples/ # 📦 Production templates
│ ├── agents/ # Custom AI personas
│ ├── commands/ # Slash commands (/pr, /commit...)
│ ├── hooks/ # Security & automation (bash + PS)
│ ├── skills/ # Knowledge modules
│ └── scripts/ # Utility scripts
│
├── tools/ # 🔧 Interactive utilities
│ ├── audit-prompt.md # Setup audit
│ └── onboarding-prompt.md # Personalized guided tour
│
├── machine-readable/ # 🤖 LLM/AI consumption
│ ├── reference.yaml # Structured index (~2K tokens)
│ └── llms.txt # Standard LLM context file
│
└── quiz/ # 🧠 Interactive quiz (227 questions)
Examples Library (65 templates)
Agents (6): code-reviewer, test-writer, security-auditor, refactoring-specialist, output-evaluator, devops-sre ⭐
Slash Commands (18): /pr, /commit, /release-notes, /diagnose, /security, /refactor, /explain, /optimize, /ship...
Security Hooks (15): dangerous-actions-blocker, prompt-injection-detector, unicode-injection-scanner, output-secrets-scanner...
Utility Scripts: session-search.sh, audit-scan.sh
GitHub Actions: claude-pr-auto-review.yml, claude-security-review.yml, claude-issue-triage.yml
Knowledge Quiz (227 questions)
Test your Claude Code knowledge with an interactive CLI quiz covering all guide sections.
cd quiz && npm install && npm start
Features: 4 profiles (Junior/Senior/Power User/PM), 10 topic categories, immediate feedback with doc links, score tracking with weak area identification.
Audit Tools
Quick scan (~2s):
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlorianBruniaux/claude-code-ultimate-guide/main/examples/scripts/audit-scan.sh | bash
Deep audit with personalized recommendations: tools/audit-prompt.md
For AI Assistants (LLM-optimized)
| Resource | Purpose | Tokens |
|---|---|---|
| llms.txt | Standard context file | ~1K |
| reference.yaml | Structured index with line numbers | ~2K |
Quick load: curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlorianBruniaux/claude-code-ultimate-guide/main/machine-readable/reference.yaml
Alternative Formats
- DeepWiki — AI-powered Q&A
- NotebookLM Slides — Visual overview
- Kimi PDF — Full text export
🔑 Golden Rules
- Always review diffs before accepting changes — Claude suggests, you decide
- Use
/compactbefore context hits 70% — prevention beats recovery - Be specific in requests — Include WHAT, WHERE, HOW, VERIFY
- Start with Plan Mode for risky/complex tasks — read-only exploration first
- Create CLAUDE.md for every project — single source of truth
Context management is critical. See the Cheat Sheet for thresholds and actions.
🌍 About
Origins & Philosophy
This guide is the result of several months of daily practice with Claude Code. I don't claim expertise—I'm sharing what I've learned to help peers and evangelize AI-assisted development best practices.
Philosophy: Learning journey over reference manual. Understanding why before how. Progressive complexity — start simple, master advanced at your pace.
Created with Claude Code. Community-validated through contributions and feedback.
Key Inspirations:
- Claudelog.com — Excellent patterns & tutorials
- zebbern/claude-code-guide — Comprehensive reference with security focus
- ykdojo/claude-code-tips — Practical productivity techniques
Privacy & Data
Claude Code sends your prompts, file contents, and MCP results to Anthropic servers.
- Default: 5 years retention (training enabled) | Opt-out: 30 days | Enterprise: 0
- Action: Disable training | Full privacy guide
Claude Cowork (for Non-Developers)
Cowork is Claude's agentic desktop feature for knowledge workers — same AI, files-only interface.
📦 Complete Documentation Now Has Its Own Repository!
⭐ Star the repo: FlorianBruniaux/claude-cowork-guide
Quick Access (34 files, v1.0.0):
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| 🏠 Main Hub | Complete documentation repository |
| 🚀 Getting Started | Setup, first workflow, CTOC framework |
| ⚡ Cheatsheet | 1-page printable reference |
| ❓ FAQ | 20+ frequently asked questions |
Content:
- 📖 6 Core Guides: Overview, capabilities, security, troubleshooting
- 📝 60+ Prompts: File ops, document creation, data extraction, research
- 🔧 5 Workflows: File organization, expense tracking, report synthesis, meeting prep, team handoff
- 🎓 Interactive Onboarding: Personalized learning path
- 🛠️ 3 Scripts: Version sync, stats update, validation
Status: Research preview (Pro $20/mo or Max $100-200/mo, macOS only, VPN incompatible)
Archive: Historical versions available in git history (pre-v3.9.9)
Ecosystem & Related Resources
This Guide's Ecosystem (4 interconnected repositories):
| Repository | Purpose | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code Guide (this repo) | Comprehensive documentation (11K lines, 65 templates) | Developers |
| Claude Cowork Guide | Non-technical usage (67 prompts, 5 workflows) | Knowledge workers |
| Code Landing (to be deployed) | Marketing site for Claude Code guide | Discovery |
| Cowork Landing (to be deployed) | Marketing site for Cowork guide | Discovery |
💡 Architecture: Separate repos for clear audience separation (devs vs non-devs), bidirectional cross-links for easy navigation.
Complementary resources:
| Project | Focus | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| claude-code-templates | Distribution - Install & use | Getting 200+ templates via CLI (17k⭐) |
| awesome-claude-code | Curation - Discover & link | Exploring community resources |
| Claude-Code-Everything | Visual walkthrough | Learning through screenshots |
| AI Coding Agents Matrix | Technical comparison | Comparing Claude Code vs 22+ alternatives |
AI Coding Agents Matrix (by Packmind):
- Interactive comparison: 23 AI coding agents across 11 technical criteria
- Criteria: CLI, MCP Support, Skills, Commands, Subagents, Plan Mode, AGENTS.md, and more
- Sortable/filterable matrix for precision discovery
- Open source (Apache-2.0), community-driven
- Use case: Discovery (Matrix: "Which agent has X feature?") → Mastery (This Guide: "How to use Claude Code?")
Positioning: Use Matrix to discover and compare → Choose Claude Code → Use this guide to master it.
Community: 🇫🇷 Dev With AI — 1500+ devs on Slack, meetups in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon
Official docs: docs.anthropic.com/claude-code
Windows & Translation
Windows Users: Most commands work with Git Bash. Use %USERPROFILE%\.claude\ for paths. Report issues
Language: Written in English for wider reach. French is my native language. Request translations via issues.
🤝 Contributing
Found an error? Have a suggestion? See CONTRIBUTING.md.
Ways to Help: Star the repo • Report issues • Submit PRs • Share workflows in Discussions
📄 License & Support
Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Free to share and adapt with attribution.
Stay Updated: Watch releases | Discussions | Connect on LinkedIn
Version 3.9.9 | January 2026 | Crafted with Claude