5 Ways to Run Claude Most People Miss

I keep meeting smart people who open Claude, type one question, get an okay answer, and quietly decide the hype is overblown. Turns out they were using maybe 10% of what it can do. That’s why I got so hooked on a breakdown from an AI professional on LinkedIn who laid out all five ways to run Claude, with a simple step-by-step for each one.

What I love about the original poster’s take is the framing. Every mode gets a plain-English analogy and a clear reason it exists. No jargon dump. Just “here’s the surface, here’s why it matters, here’s what to do first.” I’ve reorganized the creator’s steps into clean checklists so you can try each one today.

✦ Claude Chat

This is the front door, and most people already know it. The expert’s point is that the real power isn’t in opening it, it’s in how you use it.

1. Open Claude in your browser.
2. Type what you actually need, in normal words.
3. Keep working inside that same conversation.

The mistake the author flags: starting a brand new chat every single time. Don’t. Claude gets sharper the more context it’s holding, so a long running thread beats ten cold starts. Think of it like a coworker who remembers everything you told them this morning.

✦ Claude Projects

Here’s where the original poster starts unlocking stuff people don’t realize exists.

1. Click “Projects” in the sidebar.
2. Create a new project.
3. Upload your brand voice, key docs, and reference material.

The creator’s analogy nails it: it’s like handing a new hire a binder on day one that says “here’s how we do things.” Every chat inside that project is informed by the binder, so you stop re-explaining yourself.

If you run any kind of repeatable work, this alone is worth setting up once.

✦ Claude Cowork

This is the one that made me sit up. The author describes it as the mode that replaces your intern, and the steps are refreshingly short.

1. Download the Claude desktop app.
2. Click “Cowork” next to Chat.
3. Grant access to the folders you want it to work in.
4. Describe the outcome you want, not the clicks.

The way this contributor explains it: Cowork opens your files, does the actual work, and hands you the finished deliverable. Your job shrinks to reviewing it. That’s a real shift from “AI that answers questions” to “AI that produces things.”

✦ Claude Skills

Skills sound technical, but the mind behind this post makes them click with one line.

1. Create a SKILL.md file (just a plain text file).
2. Write out how to do one specific task perfectly.
3. Upload it under Settings, then Skills.
4. Let Claude detect when that skill is relevant on its own.

Why this matters: as the expert puts it, you don’t teach a chef what “cooking” means. You hand them a specific recipe. Skills are recipes. You write the perfect process once, and Claude pulls it out automatically whenever the moment fits. That’s how you stop repeating your best instructions over and over.

✦ Claude Code

Last one, and it’s the heavy hitter for anyone who touches software.

1. Download the Claude desktop app.
2. Click the “Code” tab at the top.
3. Create a folder on your computer for the work.
4. Connect your GitHub.

The person who shared this frames it as having a junior developer on call around the clock. You describe the vision, Claude builds it. You don’t need to be a senior engineer to get value here, you need to be clear about what you want.

The one mistake that ruins all five

This is the tip I think is the most useful thing in the whole post, and it applies to every mode above. The original poster says the biggest error people make is describing steps instead of outcomes.

So instead of micromanaging like this:

“Open file A, copy column B, paste it into a new sheet.”

You say what you actually want:

“Combine the revenue data into one summary.”

Then you let Claude figure out the how. Outcomes over instructions. That single habit changes how good your results are across Chat, Projects, Cowork, Skills, and Code. I was genuinely surprised how much of a difference it made once I stopped narrating every step.

My quick take

What makes this breakdown so good is that it maps to a natural progression. Chat is the conversation. Projects give it memory. Cowork gives it hands. Skills give it repeatable expertise. Code gives it building power. You don’t need all five on day one. Pick the one that matches your biggest bottleneck and start there.

The creator packed a lot more nuance and examples into the original, so if any of these modes sound like they’d save you hours, go read the full LinkedIn post for the details.