Claude Code

Claude Code is Anthropic’s agentic coding tool that runs in the terminal and drives real engineering work. These notes cover the hooks, skills, and workflow patterns we use to ship with it every day.

6 articles

A grid of two hundred small cells: the first row grey and already spent, the next rows lit in amaranth up to a glowing frontier cell, the rest dark below a dashed amaranth limit line

Claude Code context window: manage it like a token budget

A fresh Claude Code session already spends about 20,000 tokens before you type. Here is how /context, /compact, and /clear keep the 200K window sharp.

A short document card on the left, and a straight amaranth path running between two railed guides to a lit tile, with quiet paths drifting away above and below

How to write a CLAUDE.md file that steers Claude Code reliably

CLAUDE.md loads into every Claude Code session, so every line competes for attention. Keep it under 120 lines, write positive rules, and move fixed checks to hooks.

Three amaranth tiles at the top wired down into a glowing horizontal band, from which many thin lines fan out to a wide row of lit tiles below

What is a Claude Code studio in 2026 (and how to pick one)

A Claude Code studio builds production software using Claude as the execution layer. We define the label and show how to verify a real one before you sign.

Four rows of small dark tiles, two lit, each wired down to a context bar: forty-six thin quiet slices and two wide lit blocks

Claude Code skills: when to use them, when they cost tokens

Claude Code skills load on demand and cost 75-150 tokens each just to list. Use them for procedures over five lines; keep project-wide rules in CLAUDE.md.

A line of lit calls passing a gate, one grey call turned down to a stop, a lit tool tile, ragged pills combed into straight ones, and a ringing signal at the end

Claude Code hooks: PreToolUse guards, PostToolUse formatters

Three hooks in .claude/settings.json: a PreToolUse guard that exits 2 and cancels the command, a PostToolUse formatter, and a Stop event notifier.

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Claude Code workflow patterns we use to ship production code daily

Seven Claude Code workflow patterns we run daily to ship production code: plan mode, CLAUDE.md, hooks, subagents, parallel sessions, slash commands, MCP.

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