Tools
Claude Code

Claude Code

Made by: Anthropic Type: Autonomous Coding Agent (CLI) Best for: Complex, multi-file engineering tasks; running in CI/CD; agentic software development

Claude Code
An autonomous coding agent. Give it a task in plain English — it reads, plans, codes, tests, and commits.
📂
Reads your codebase
Scans files, imports, and conventions before writing a line
1/5
🗺️
Forms a plan
Breaks the task into logical steps across files
2/5
✍️
Writes the code
Multi-file edits, following your existing patterns
3/5
🧪
Runs tests
Executes your test suite and fixes failures automatically
4/5
✅
Shows you the diff
You review and approve before anything is committed
5/5
0:00 / 0:08

What it is

Claude Code is a command-line tool that turns Claude into an autonomous software engineer. You give it a task in plain English — "add rate limiting to the auth API" or "find and fix the memory leak in the worker" — and it:

  1. Reads the relevant files in your repository
  2. Forms a plan
  3. Makes the code changes
  4. Runs tests and lints to verify
  5. Asks you to review before committing

It's not an autocomplete tool. It's an agent that works end-to-end on tasks, the way a junior engineer would — but faster and without coffee breaks.

How it differs from Cursor

Claude CodeCursor
InterfaceTerminal / CLIIDE (VS Code-based)
Working styleAutonomous (you delegate tasks)Collaborative (you pair in real time)
Best forBatch engineering work, CI pipelinesActive development sessions
ContextWhole repo scanOpen files + codebase index
Human in loopYou approve at each checkpointContinuous back-and-forth

Both use Claude under the hood. Claude Code is for delegating; Cursor is for pairing.

Getting started

Install

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Authenticate

claude auth login

This links Claude Code to your Anthropic account.

Run it in your project

cd my-project
claude

You'll get an interactive shell where you can type tasks in plain English.

Give it a task

> Add input validation to the POST /users endpoint. Use zod. Write tests.

Claude Code reads your codebase, writes the code, runs your test suite, and shows you a diff to approve.

Review and commit

When you're happy, Claude Code commits the changes with a generated commit message, or you can commit manually.

What it can do

Understand your whole codebase — Claude Code scans your repo on startup. It knows your file structure, imports, and conventions before it writes a single line.

Multi-file edits — A feature that touches 5 files across 3 directories? Claude Code handles it as one coherent task, not 5 disconnected edits.

Run commands — It can execute npm test, cargo build, pytest and read the output. If tests fail after its changes, it debugs and tries again.

Ask clarifying questions — When requirements are ambiguous, Claude Code asks before it builds. It won't silently guess wrong for 200 lines.

Work in CI — You can run Claude Code non-interactively in a CI/CD pipeline to automate things like dependency updates, generated code regeneration, or changelog writing.

# Non-interactive CI mode
claude -p "Update all npm dependencies and fix any breaking changes" --no-confirm

Practical uses

  • Bug fixes — "Users report the CSV export is missing the last row. Find and fix it."
  • Refactoring — "Convert all class components in /src/components to functional components with hooks."
  • Feature additions — "Add a dark mode toggle. Use the existing theme system."
  • Code review — "Review this PR diff for security issues and performance problems."
  • Documentation — "Generate JSDoc comments for every exported function in /src/lib."
  • Test writing — "Write unit tests for the payment module. Aim for 90% coverage."

Permissions and safety

Claude Code asks for permission before:

  • Running commands (configurable)
  • Making changes outside your project directory
  • Accessing credentials or secret files

You can run Claude Code in read-only mode for exploration without any risk of changes:

claude --no-edits

Tips

  • Be specific about scope. "Fix the auth bug" is harder than "Fix the 401 error in src/api/auth.ts line 47."
  • Use it for the boring stuff. Migrations, boilerplate, docs, test writing — tasks you'd procrastinate on are perfect for Claude Code.
  • Trust but verify. Always review the diff before committing. Claude Code is good, not infallible.
  • Pair it with Scout for teams — Scout adds shared history, audit logging, and cost visibility across your engineering team.
ClaudeCursor