Beginner guide

Your first session from zero

Six short steps — from blank laptop to working Claude Code session.

What this guide covers

This guide walks you through everything you need to go from never having used a terminal to having Claude Code installed, running, and building things for you. By the end, you'll have your first project set up and know how to give Claude instructions it remembers across sessions.

Start with Step 1 below and work through each one in order. If you get stuck on a term, check the glossary. If you want to understand the bigger picture first, the links below are a good place to start.

Learn the Terms

Plain English glossary

Project Setup

The 5-layer architecture

With vs Without

How agents change the game

Before You Build: Create Your Project Context

Before opening Claude Code, spend 10 minutes with any AI chatbot (Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini) to plan your project in plain English. This gives Claude Code a head start — it'll know exactly what you're building from the first prompt.

What to tell the AI

  1. Describe what you're building in one sentence
  2. List the features you want
  3. Ask it to break this into phases
  4. Ask it to write a CLAUDE.md instruction file for you
  5. Ask it to create skill files for your project

What is a skill file?

A skill file is a reusable instruction set that teaches Claude a specific workflow — like "how to deploy" or "how to add a new page." You store them in your project and Claude can run them on command.

Learn more →

What is a markdown file?

A markdown file (.md) is a plain text file with simple formatting — headings, lists, bold text. It's how you write instructions that both humans and AI can read easily. CLAUDE.md is just a markdown file with a special name.

Learn more →

Example prompt to copy

> I'm building [describe your project here]. Break this into phases. Then write me a CLAUDE.md file that describes the project, and create skill files for the key workflows.

What you'll get back

  • A phased build plan (what to build first, second, third)
  • A CLAUDE.md instruction file (ready to paste into your project folder)
  • Skill files (ready to drop into .claude/skills/)

01The terminal

What is the terminal?

The terminal is just a text-based way to talk to your computer. Instead of clicking buttons and icons, you type short commands. That's it. It's not hacking, it's not dangerous, and you can't break your computer by typing the wrong thing — the worst that happens is you get an error message.

Think of it like texting your computer instead of tapping on apps. Developers use it because it's faster, and Claude Code lives here because it needs to read and write your project files directly.

How to open the terminal on Mac

Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight, type Terminal, and hit Enter. You can also find it in Applications → Utilities → Terminal. You'll see a small window with a blinking cursor — that's it, you're in.

5 commands you need to know

CommandWhat it doesExample
cdChange directorycd ~/projects
lsList filesls -la
mkdirCreate a foldermkdir my-app
pwdPrint working directorypwd
claudeStart Claude Codeclaude

Worked example

# Navigate to your home folder
~ $ cd ~/Desktop

# List what's there
~/Desktop $ ls
projects/ notes.txt screenshot.png

# Create a new folder and enter it
~/Desktop $ mkdir my-project
~/Desktop $ cd my-project
~/Desktop/my-project $ pwd
/Users/you/Desktop/my-project