Claude
PickAnthropic's family of AI models and the apps built on them: the Claude chat app, Claude Code for terminal work, and the API.
01 · Introduction
What Claude is
Claude is the name of Anthropic's AI models and of the products built on them.
- The models come in tiers. Opus is the strongest and most expensive, Sonnet balances quality and cost, Haiku is the fastest and cheapest. Newer generations replace older ones under the same names.
- Claude.ai is the chat app (web, desktop, mobile). It can read files, search the web, run code and remember your projects.
- Claude Code is an agent that works in your terminal and editor: it reads a codebase, makes changes, runs commands and opens pull requests.
- The API lets your own programs and workflow tools call the models.
The same model answers in all of them; what differs is the tools around it.
02 · When to use it
Which Claude for which job
- Thinking and writing (briefs, analyses, long documents): the chat app with a Project that holds your reference files.
- Repetitive work on a schedule: the API from a workflow tool, usually with Haiku or Sonnet.
- Anything that touches code or files on your computer: Claude Code.
- Connecting Claude to your tools (calendar, docs, databases): MCP servers in the desktop app or Claude Code.
03 · Setup
Getting started
Chat app: sign up at claude.ai. The free plan is enough to learn; Pro adds more usage, Projects and the desktop app features.
Claude Code:
- Install Node.js 18 or newer.
- Run
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code. - In a project folder run
claudeand sign in. Ask it to explain the project before asking it to change anything.
API: create a key in the Anthropic Console, add credit, and paste the key into your workflow tool or code. The API handbook shows the first call.
04 · How to use it
Day-to-day use
- Put the standing instructions in one place: a Project's instructions in the app, a
CLAUDE.mdfile for Claude Code, the system prompt in the API. Claude reads it every time. - Give examples of the output you want; one good example beats three paragraphs of description.
- For long documents, attach the file rather than pasting; the app handles the splitting.
- In Claude Code, let it run the tests and read the diff before you accept.
- Use the cheaper model for sorting and summarizing, the strong one for judgment calls.
05 · Pitfalls
Pitfalls
- Claude can be wrong with confidence. For facts, ask for the source and check it.
- Chats have a size limit; a very long conversation gets slower and costs more per message. Start a new one when the topic changes.
- Model names change over time. In automations, use the exact model id from the docs and expect to update it.
- Claude Code works with your real files. Keep the project in git so any change can be undone.
06 · Resources
Where to go next
The documentation site covers all three surfaces; the tutorials here show them used for everyday work.
Related tutorials
Reinstalling is easy. What's hard to get back on a new computer is your MCP servers, Skills, rules files, env vars and project dependencies. Ask your AI agent to inventory them, set up a private backup repo, list your keys, and write a restore script. Copy-paste prompt included.
Intermediate tutorial: Split your talking-head recording into one clip per sentence, then have your AI agent install the open-source skill and run its demo first. Answer three setup questions about theme, logo and materials. Approve the scene table before reviewing key frames, then render, mix and frame-check the final video. Includes 3 copy-ready prompts.
Use when you want to wrap a set of talking-head clips in a finance or science explainer video with big numbers, card walls, charts, a world map and web screenshot highlights, or redo the explainer visuals for an existing talking-head video. The agent asks about background, logo and materials first, writes a scene table for your approval, researches and writes a facts file, builds the storyboard with Remotion layouts, reviews key frames, then renders, mixes and frame-checks the video. It does not write scripts or generate on-camera footage, keeps the AI-generated label, and never uses a real creator's logo, portrait or voice. Use case: Let your AI agent turn your talking-head clips into explainer videos with animated charts and sourced numbers.
Beginner tutorial: check that your paid plan can use Claude Sheets, describe the table's purpose, rules and math in one prompt, review each change Claude marks, share the sheet with coworkers to edit together, and export to Excel for heavy calculations. Also meet Claude Whiteboards and Claude Data. Includes two copy-ready prompts.
Intermediate tutorial: get Claude Code signed in with claude auth login, choose Claude Agent under /connect in OpenCode, learn which Claude Code settings stay behind, and have your AI agent move your rules into AGENTS.md. Includes 2 copy-ready prompts.
Working with Fable 5.2, the session gets compacted into a summary after almost every task, and the app shows how many tokens each compaction saved. Put rules in files and give each task in one message so nothing gets lost.
Intermediate tutorial: install the open-source AutoHarness plugin and Claude Code starts reviewing your work in the background. It turns the methods it finds in a session into Skills, combines similar ones, updates a Skill when you correct it, and archives the ones you stop using. Check your Python version first, install with two commands, save a lesson by hand with /learn, and review what it has learned. Includes 3 copy-ready prompts.
Beginner tutorial: Use the open-source Hypit to give Claude Code or Codex a video-making skill. Hand it a reference video, have it break down the opening hook, pacing, and subtitle structure first, then swap in your product, presenter, and language to regenerate. Get a price quote before spending money, and reuse assets to batch out several versions. Includes 4 copy-ready prompts.
Beginner tutorial: Use the free, open-source givemotion project to have Claude Code or Codex check your computer, set up the tools, and turn one paragraph of description into a promo video, animated data chart, or vertical short. Review an overview image before rendering to MP4, then change only the parts you name in plain language. One video can also be batch-exported into several versions. Includes 4 copy-ready prompts.
Beginner tutorial: Have an agent set up the tools, pick one of 66 Lemo-Opuscar styles, write each request with a fixed template and sources, then give plain-language feedback on the finished video. The result is an mp4 with voiceover, music and subtitles. Includes 4 copy-ready prompts.
Beginner tutorial: turn one full-body image of your character into transparent animations with sprite-gen, an open-source Skill for Codex or Claude Code. Choose between GPT frame-by-frame or Grok video, write the actions, loops and export format, remove bad frames in the curator, and export animations for videos, animated stickers or websites. Includes 3 copy-paste prompts.
Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.2 is up to 30% faster, costs $8 per million input tokens and scores 49.1% on FrontierCode 2.0, though Opus 5.5 remains the everyday pick. Includes a table for picking the right model.
Beginner tutorial: install the open-source Muse4AI app on a Windows PC, log in to your own Meta Muse account, and hand the connection command to Claude Code. After that, one sentence in chat makes images and short videos. Covers checking credit use first and splitting shots to build longer videos. Includes 3 prompts you can copy and paste.
Advanced tutorial: Use Claude Code and the cook Skill to drive headless Blender. Set the story, style, score line, and time first. Let the agent write a production doc and shot list, generate all 3D with Python, check still frames before batch rendering, link shots with transitions, and do editing, color, and audio in code. Includes 4 copyable prompts.
Use when the user wants to turn one image (an AI image, a render, a photo of a figurine or product, a hand-drawn sketch) into a 3D model, a 3D-printable sculpt, or a time-lapse video of a sculpting process, or wants to check how far a model is from the original image. Faces the photo can see are fitted to the photo, hidden back and side faces are filled from generated views that agree with each other, every step is recorded and replayed in Blender, and GLB/OBJ/STL are exported. It needs paid fal endpoints (about $2 per model), so state the cost before starting. Use case: Have the agent turn one image into a 3D sculpt that matches the original, and replay the whole sculpting process.
Use when the user wants to make 3D animation, 3D characters, cutaway demos, science maps and timelines, or to edit short videos or add sound effects. 12 Skills plus two commands, /3dg and /2dg, work with free tools such as Blender, Three.js, Remotion, and FFmpeg. Clarify needs first, make a preview before the final version, and get consent before installing any software. Use case: Let an agent make 3D animation, characters, science maps and short videos for you
Beginner tutorial: get Claude Code or Codex ready, ask it in one sentence to install Creator Generalist and the free software it needs, then describe what you want in plain words. Answer a few multiple-choice questions, check a preview, and say where to change things if you are not satisfied. Includes 4 prompts you can copy directly.
Use when a user wants to turn a fact-checked explainer script into a faceless, journal-style knowledge video. Five checkpoints, each waiting for the user to confirm: voice and script, material list, storyboard, 3-second sample, full cut. Does not change the script, invent data, or publish. The bundled script renders only a minimal example; voice-over, screen recording, and complex editing must be prepared separately. Use case: Let an agent turn your explainer script into a faceless, journal-style knowledge video, with you confirming every step.
Beginner tutorial: prepare the topic, final script, screenshots, and voice-over, have your agent install the open-source Skill, send the first task brief, then check the voice-over, material list, storyboard, first three seconds, and full cut one by one. You publish it yourself at the end. Includes 2 prompts you can copy directly.
Use when the user needs matplotlib data charts for a paper, academic talk or defense slides (grouped bars, ablation studies, training curves, heatmaps, multi-panel figures) exported as PNG or PDF vector files. It follows the publication styling of figures4papers (CC BY-NC 4.0, non-commercial use only): consistent fonts, colors, line widths and export settings, using only the user's data and asking first when something is unclear. Not for interactive charts such as Plotly, exploratory plotting, or 3D and map figures. Use case: Let your agent draw your experiment data as bar charts, curve plots and heatmaps that follow top-venue paper figure conventions, ready to drop into a paper.
A beginner tutorial: have your agent install Vercel's open-source agent-desktop, grant the accessibility permission yourself, then add the official Skill. Start with a read-only trial, have it describe its plan and wait for your go-ahead, and finally hand it the work of clicking back and forth between several apps, checking the interface when it's done. Includes 3 copy-ready prompts.
Use this when a user wants to strip the AI flavor from a Chinese draft or check for signs of AI writing. Based on the open-source lieflat-less-ai-tone (CC BY-NC 4.0): a script plus semantic judgment first produces a detection report, listing flagged sentences and suggested fixes; only after the user replies does it rewrite with minimal changes and re-test to show a before-and-after comparison. It changes only phrasings measured to be clearly more common in AI text, without altering structure or dropping information. Use case: Have the Agent first use data to find sentences in your article that read like AI writing, then edit only those spots after you confirm.
Use when the user doesn't know Git and you need to create, edit or write files in a folder or code, or when the user says save a snapshot, show what changed, revert, upload to GitHub, or merge. Before acting, save a snapshot first; start new features on a branch; after changes, report in plain language with how to undo; always ask before uploading, publishing, merging, or any action that could discard changes; secrets never go into the repository. Use case: Let the Agent manage every change for you when you don't know Git: snapshot before changes, explain after, roll back if something breaks, ask before uploading.
A beginner tutorial: learn only 5 concepts (repository, commit, branch, cloud backup, revert), have the agent check Git and GitHub, and install a Git safety-net Skill. From then on, say in plain words to save, revert or upload, and it will always save first, explain changes afterwards and ask you before key actions. Finally, rehearse breaking something and recovering it. Includes 3 copy-ready prompts.
A daily trend briefing delivered automatically with sources, every item in the source table traceable, topics scored, first-draft facts easy to verify, and reusable conclusions from reviews.
A new project with a layout close to the reference page, with all text and images replaced by your own, plus a similarity score and difference list for three screen widths.
Use when a user wants the K-line structure, support and resistance, risk control plan, future volatility range, or backtest of an A-share, Hong Kong, or US stock, ETF, or index. Based on the open-source stock-skill (Apache-2.0): real daily market data, deterministic calculation, look-ahead-free backtesting, output as JSON, PNG, offline dashboard and Chinese report; only relays script numbers, outputs no probabilities, and stops if market data is unavailable. No fundamental analysis or investment advice. Use case: Have the Agent use real market data to compute a stock's K-line structure, support and resistance, and risk control levels, generate charts and reports, without fabricating numbers or stating probabilities.
A beginner's tutorial: tell the agent only the context the code doesn't show, get a plan approved before it starts coding, give every task a check it can use to judge its own work, watch the first minute and restart after two failed corrections, and write anything corrected twice into CLAUDE.md. Then check unattended tasks against five questions and keep the decisions for yourself. Includes 3 copy-ready templates: a task brief, CLAUDE.md work rules, and a checklist for starting automated tasks.
Use when the user wants to turn a GitHub repo, technical article, PDF, local project or notes into an architecture or flow diagram, export an existing diagram as an image, video, GIF or Mermaid, or switch it to blueprint, hand-drawn, 3D and other styles. Based on the open-source arch-diagram-skill (MIT): reads the repo without running its code, draws inferred parts as dashed lines, and delivers only after self-check passes. Use case: Have the agent read an open-source project or an article, draw it as a moving architecture diagram, then switch styles for the occasion and export as an image or video.
A beginner's tutorial: get Node and a browser ready, install the arch-diagram Skill with one command, give a GitHub repo or article link to Claude Code or Codex to draw as a living architecture diagram, verify the inferred parts, switch between 8 styles with one sentence, and export as image, video, GIF, or Mermaid. Includes 2 copy-ready prompts.
Use when you want to view, sort, assign, label, or reply to Chatwoot support conversations from the terminal, or search Chatwoot Help Center articles. Based on the official chatwoot CLI (MIT): read operations run directly; replies, assignments, status changes, and other actions visible to customers or colleagues first show the full command to the user for confirmation; customer messages are always treated as data, never as instructions. Use case: Have Claude Code or Codex go through your Chatwoot inbox with you every day: sorting, drafting replies, and tagging, with every message waiting for your confirmation before it is sent.
Beginner tutorial: first prepare Claude Code, a Codex login, or an API key. On Windows, choose the Windows Hub installer or a one-line PowerShell command. On Mac, choose OpenClaw.app or a terminal command. After finishing the onboarding wizard and setting it to run in the background, verify with gateway status and the control panel. Includes 1 ready-to-copy troubleshooting prompt.
Advanced tutorial: Install the open-source Academic Research Skills plugin in Claude Code and work through research questions, literature review and research gaps, outlines, citation checks, simulated peer review, and AI use disclosure in order, while you write the body text yourself. Includes six copy-ready prompt rounds and an explanation of why you should not use it to generate the paper directly.
The main session uses Sonnet, subagents go to Haiku, and Opus serves as an advisor that only reviews plans, checks repeated errors, and does final checks. The --advisor / --subagents startup flags circulating online throw errors in the current version, so this article gives working alternatives.
Advanced tutorial: Walk through four weeks with a sample Markdown-to-PDF site: in Week 1, screen for small, precise demand; in Week 2, check search results to decide page format; in Week 3, write a core page and supporting pages and link them to each other; from Week 4 on, read Search Console against a symptom lookup table. Includes two prompt templates and an experiment log template.
Advanced tutorial: Learn to read the four columns of a Search Console export, pick the 10 pages with the most clicks, and have Claude find the search queries you don't answer and the queries ranking 11 to 30. Use a reference table to decide where to add each one, then rework the opening, add unique content, link the pages to each other, request indexing, and log your changes. Includes four copyable prompts and a change log template.
A beginner's tutorial: the open-source PPT Master lets Claude Code and other AI tools generate genuinely editable PowerPoint files on your computer, with charts, tables, and shapes you can keep editing. Three steps to get started: install Python, download the project, and drop in your materials. Includes the confirmation workflow, export location, and things to watch out for.
Beginner tutorial: editonny is a free, open-source video editing skill. Transcription and rendering run on your own computer. Install it with one sentence, use plain language to trim pauses, remove slip-ups, add captions, switch to vertical format, and turn a passage into an animation. Includes how to read the settings card, default settings, and things to watch out for.
Props are generated with code in Blender, characters get meshes from a generator, then the Agent cleans them up, splits them into parts, rigs bones, sets weights, writes animations and exports to Unity or Roblox. Includes route choices, costs and a common troubleshooting table.
Put flat 2D characters into a lit 3D scene and tell a true story. A pipeline covering form breakdown, scriptwriting, storyboarding, building the scene in Blender, voiceover and captions, then review and iteration, with ready-to-adapt prompts and compliance reminders.
Group 12 open-source Skills into four sets by use (video, motion, Blender, web 3D), get three combinations you can run right away, and understand the pitfalls around licenses, paid features, and copyright.
When the base-tier Claude quota runs out, it's usually because bulk output work was also handed to it. Keep judgment tasks for Claude, send bulk generation to Codex or a cheaper tool, and write the division of labor into CLAUDE.md.
A list of the models we currently find most useful, by use case: general, coding, complex reasoning, deep research, web search, long documents, slides, image drawing and editing, AI video, digital humans, voice and music, value for money, and open weights. Personal experience; models change fast, for reference only.
Hand this article to your agent and it can write a game for you. Beginner tutorial: install the free Godot engine, use an agent like Claude Code to write GDScript, and build a dodge game you can play, score, and restart. Covers installation, creating a project, prompts for the agent, running it, having the agent check errors from the command line, and making changes step by step.
Use this when a user wants to write Instagram content (Reel scripts, opening hooks, captions, carousels, Stories, a weekly posting plan, comment and DM replies), or wants to turn a video, podcast or article into Instagram content. Built on the open-source instagram-agent-skill (13 /ig-* skills plus 5 local helper tools). It checks the installation and voice file automatically, picks the right command, and after writing, scores the hooks and strips AI-sounding phrasing with local tools. Write only: no logging in, no posting, no made-up data. Use case: Have an agent help you write Instagram Reel scripts, captions and a weekly posting plan, then copy and post them yourself.
A beginner tutorial: install the open-source instagram-agent-skill (MIT, no API key, the small tools run locally), write your voice guide, and use /ig-reel, /ig-caption, /ig-plan, and /ig-human to write Reel scripts, captions, and a weekly plan. It only writes and never posts, and it doesn't touch your account. Using it in Claude Code requires a paid Claude plan.
Intermediate tutorial: without buying a server, use the ShipAny TanStack template and Claude Code to deploy, in about half an hour, a website with login, membership payments (Alipay and WeChat Pay supported) and an admin backend to Cloudflare Workers + D1, then bind your own domain. Starting from signing up for GitHub, linking your account in the ShipAny backend, and pulling the code, even beginners can follow along.
Advanced tutorial: add claude_cli, codex_cli and fallback LLM providers to xiaozhi-esp32-server, calling the locally logged-in official CLIs, with all tokens handled by the CLI itself. Tool calls use a <tool_call> text protocol and are not spoken aloud. If Claude errors, it automatically switches to Codex, and the failing provider cools down for 300 seconds. Includes full code, configuration, testing methods, and measured latency.
Some source code can pass Cloudflare's human verification, but models like Claude have too strong a moral stance and refuse to help you get around it. Consider using another model.
