Claude Code & Agentic Development · Lesson 1

Installation and First Session

Install Claude Code, authenticate, start a first session, learn permission modes, and how it differs from Cursor/Copilot.

20 min read4 questions in quizReady prompt includedIn progress

Practical exercise

What to do after this lesson

Install Claude Code globally, run claude auth, start a session in any of your repos, and ask the agent to explain what one of the files does. Then restart with --permission-mode plan and confirm it only proposes a plan.

Task grader

Install Claude Code globally, run claude auth, start a session in any of your repos, and ask the agent to explain what one of the files does. Then restart with --permission-mode plan and confirm it only proposes a plan.

Your answer

Ready-to-use prompt

Template for this lesson

Copy and adapt to your context. Text in angle brackets should be replaced.

I just installed Claude Code and started a first session in a project.
Project stack: <…>
What I want to understand to start: <…>

Briefly explain this repository's structure from the files you can see,
and propose 3 safe first tasks you could perform.

Prompt sandbox

Prompt

Common mistakes

What people get wrong

Running claude not from the project root — the agent doesn't see the relevant files.
Enabling auto-approve immediately on an unfamiliar project and losing control of edits.

First session

Go to the project root and just run:

cd my-project claude

An interactive REPL opens right in the terminal. This is not an editor plugin — it is an agent with access to the filesystem, shell, and git within the working directory. Describe a task in plain language:

Read src/server.ts and add error handling to the /api/users route

Claude finds the file itself, reads related modules, proposes changes as a diff, and asks for confirmation before writing.

Permission modes

Claude Code does not perform dangerous actions silently. There are three behaviors:

default — asks for confirmation on file writes and shell commands. The safe default.

auto-approve (acceptEdits) — auto-accepts file edits but still asks for potentially dangerous shell commands.

manual / plan — the agent only proposes a plan and changes nothing until you explicitly allow it.

Choose the mode at launch:

claude --permission-mode auto-approve

You can also switch the mode inside a session via the permission UI (Shift+Tab toggles the edit-acceptance mode).

How it differs from Cursor and Copilot

Copilot — autocompletion in the editor. Suggests the next line, doesn't see the whole project, doesn't run commands.

Cursor — an editor with chat and edits; the human drives every step in the IDE.

Claude Code — an autonomous agent in the terminal: it reads dozens of files, runs tests, makes git commits, and drives a multi-step task to a result. You set the goal, not dictate the steps.

This changes how you work: you describe what you need, not how to type it. That's why the rest of the course is about how to phrase tasks and keep the agent under control.

Report a bug

Installation and First Session

Task grader

Prompt sandbox

Quiz — 4 questions

Discussion

Installation

Authentication

First session

Permission modes

How it differs from Cursor and Copilot