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Claude Code in Action

IntermediateSkill Level
Updated 06/2026
Get hands-on with Claude Code, Anthropic's terminal AI agent: master context, plan mode, custom commands, MCP, and hooks to ship real work you can trust.
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ClaudeArtificial Intelligence
3 hr
15 videos
46 Exercises
2,900 XP
Statement of Accomplishment

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Course Description

Turn Your Terminal into an AI-Powered Development Environment

Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding assistant that lives in your terminal, reading your files, running commands, and editing code on your behalf. This course shows you how to use it well — not by typing hopeful prompts and accepting whatever comes back, but with deliberate workflows that produce reliable results. You'll work inside a real project the whole way through, and because DataCamp provides a ready-to-use environment, you'll run actual Claude Code sessions from the very first exercise, with no installation or API key required.

Understand How Claude Code Actually Works

Before you can guide a tool, you need to know what it is doing. You'll learn what a coding assistant really is, and how a language model — which can only turn text into text — uses tool calls to read files, run commands, and act on the outside world. You'll see why Claude's strength with tool use is exactly what sets Claude Code apart, and watch it take on real tasks: profiling and optimizing a popular open-source library, analyzing data in a notebook, restyling a web app through a live browser, and reviewing a pull request for a security issue on GitHub.

Build a Reliable Daily Workflow

Strong results with Claude Code come down to one core skill: managing context. You'll set up Claude on a project with /init and a CLAUDE.md file, point it at the right code using @ file mentions and memory mode, and keep long sessions focused with /context, /compact, and /clear. From there, you'll make safe, reviewable changes with plan mode and extended thinking, commit them with messages Claude writes for you, and turn repetitive prompts into custom slash commands. Finally, you'll extend Claude Code with MCP servers and wire it into GitHub to review pull requests automatically.

Automate and Extend with Hooks and the SDK

Claude Code does not have to wait for your next prompt. You'll learn to write hooks that run automatically before and after Claude uses a tool — blocking reads of sensitive files such as .env, type-checking every edit and feeding errors back so Claude can fix them, and even launching a second Claude instance to catch duplicate code before it lands. Then you'll step outside the terminal entirely with the Claude Code SDK, driving Claude from your own scripts, pipelines, and scheduled jobs.

By the time you finish, you'll know how to set up Claude Code on any project, guide it with just enough context, and extend it with custom commands, MCP servers, hooks, and the SDK — a practical, end-to-end foundation for shipping real work with an AI coding assistant you can trust.

What you'll learn

  • Differentiate AI coding agents like Claude Code from chat-based AI tools, and explain how tool use lets a language model read files, run commands, and complete real tasks.
  • Apply structured prompting and approval controls, including plan mode, extended thinking, and auto-accept, to guide Claude through safe, reviewable code changes.
  • Manage the context window effectively with a CLAUDE.md file, @ file mentions, and commands like /context and /compact to stay accurate and productive over long sessions.
  • Extend Claude Code to fit your workflow by creating custom slash commands, connecting external tools through MCP servers, and integrating it with GitHub.
  • Automate Claude Code with hooks that run before and after its tools, and drive it programmatically from scripts and pipelines using the Claude Code SDK.

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Prerequisites

Claude Code 101
1

What is Claude Code?

Learn what Claude Code is, how it differs from other coding assistants, and how its use of tools lets it read files, run commands, and explain code for you.
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2

Getting Hands On

Set up Claude Code on a real project, then guide it with CLAUDE.md and context controls, make safe edits with plan mode, and extend it with custom commands, MCP servers, and GitHub.
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Claude Code in Action
Course
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FAQs

Is this course suitable for beginners?

Yes. The course assumes only basic familiarity with a code editor and the command line. No prior experience with AI tools is required, and it starts from first principles by explaining what a coding assistant is and how tool use lets a language model read files, run commands, and act on a real project.

What topics does this course cover?

You will learn how to set up Claude Code, understand how it uses tools, guide it with a CLAUDE.md file and @ file mentions, manage your context window with commands like /context and /compact, make safe edits using plan mode and extended thinking, create reusable custom slash commands, connect external tools through MCP servers, integrate Claude Code with GitHub, and automate your workflow with hooks and the Claude Code SDK.

Where can I use Claude Code after completing this course?

Anywhere you write code. Claude Code lives in your terminal and integrates with the tools you already use — VS Code, JetBrains, Claude Desktop, and the web — so you can bring it into your existing setup the moment you finish. Better still, the workflows you practice here, from context management and plan mode to custom commands, MCP servers, hooks, and the GitHub integration, are built to drop straight into your own projects, not just the course sandbox.

Is this course free to take?

Yes. This course can be completed from beginning to end without a paid DataCamp subscription.

How does this course help experienced engineers, not just beginners?

It goes beyond basic usage into customization and automation, including writing custom slash commands, connecting external tools and data through MCP servers, writing hooks for automated guardrails such as blocking secret-file reads or type-checking every edit, and driving Claude from your own scripts with the Claude Code SDK — techniques for tailoring Claude Code to your existing projects and conventions.

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