I’ll admit something. When I first opened Claude Code, I treated it like a chat window that happened to live in my terminal. I typed a short request, crossed my fingers, and got annoyed when the result missed the point. So this post from a LinkedIn creator hit close to home.
The author opens with a sharp line: “Most people use Claude Code like a chatbot with a terminal. It isn’t one.” Claude Code is an agentic coding tool. That means it doesn’t just answer questions. It reads your codebase, edits files, runs commands, writes tests and works with Git. Most people type one vague line, hope for the best, and then blame the tool when it flops.
The “fix authentication” lesson
This savvy professional is honest about their own first week. Their whole prompt was two words: “fix authentication.” They call it a founder habit: “Delegate fast, specify never.”
I love the comparison they make to hiring. Vague briefs get vague work. Specific briefs get shipped. You wouldn’t hand a new developer a sticky note that says “fix auth” and walk away, so why do it to an AI agent? The creator’s big takeaway is simple: the tool is only as good as the process around it. They mapped that whole process onto one page, and I’ve broken it down into steps below.
Step 1: Get set up the right way
Before any workflow, you need the basics. The expert lists the commands that matter most:
- Install: one curl line on macOS, Linux or WSL, then cd into your project and run “claude”
- claude plus a task: starts a session with an instruction already loaded
- claude -p: runs a task non-interactively, which is handy for scripts and automation
- claude -c: continues your latest session
- claude -r: resumes an older session
Why it matters: knowing -c and -r alone saves you from re-explaining context every time you come back to a task.
Step 2: Follow the six-stage workflow
This is the heart of the post. The author calls it “the workflow that holds up,” and each stage has a clear job:
- Explore: have Claude understand the relevant code first, before touching anything
- Plan: use Plan Mode for complex changes so you can review the approach
- Implement: make focused changes that keep existing patterns
- Verify: run tests, type checks, linting and builds
- Review: look for bugs, security issues and regressions
- Commit: only after verification passes
The order is the point. Exploring before coding stops Claude from guessing about your repo. Verifying before committing stops broken code from sneaking into your history.
Step 3: Write prompts that carry real context
Once the workflow is in place, the next lever is the prompt itself. According to the post’s author, better prompts include:
- The goal
- Relevant files
- Error messages
- Constraints
- Expected behavior
- Verification criteria
Here’s the before and after the creator shares. “Fix authentication” becomes: “find the session expiry root cause, add a failing test, apply the smallest fix, run tests, review the diff.”
Notice what changed. The new version names the real problem, demands proof through a failing test, limits the scope to the smallest fix, and builds verification right into the request. You can steal that pattern for almost any bug. Try something like: “Find the root cause of [problem] in [files], write a failing test that reproduces it, apply the smallest fix, run the full test suite, and show me the diff.”
Step 4: Layer on the power features
With solid prompts and a workflow, you’re ready for the extras. This is where the tool really starts to feel supercharged. The expert lists seven layers:
- Slash commands: /help, /clear, /compact, /context, /init, /permissions, /hooks, /rewind, /resume, /doctor
- CLAUDE.md: a file that holds your conventions, architecture rules, preferred libraries and test commands
- Skills: reusable instructions for repeatable jobs like reviewing PRs, creating API endpoints or fixing GitHub issues
- Subagents: helpers with separate contexts, such as a debugger, security reviewer, test engineer or docs writer
- MCP: connects Claude to Notion, GitHub, Figma, databases and issue trackers
- Hooks: automatically run tests and ESLint, format files and enforce rules
- Permissions: Plan Mode first, minimum access, sandboxing, and human approval for sensitive actions
My tip here: start with CLAUDE.md. Running /init creates one for you, and it means you stop repeating “we use pytest” or “don’t touch the legacy folder” in every session. Once that feels natural, add a hook that runs your tests automatically. Then experiment with subagents for reviews.
Step 5: Avoid the most common mistakes
Last, this industry pro lists the mistakes they see most often. Each one maps back to a step above:
- Vague prompts: fixed by Step 3
- Coding before understanding the repo: fixed by the Explore stage
- Accepting “done” without verification: fixed by the Verify stage
- One huge conversation: use /clear and /compact to keep context clean
- Skipping tests: make tests part of every prompt
- Fixing symptoms instead of root causes: ask for the root cause by name
The “one huge conversation” mistake is sneaky. As a session grows, older details crowd the context and quality slips. Clearing between unrelated tasks, or compacting a long one, keeps Claude sharp.
Why I think this guide works
What I appreciate most is that the creator treats Claude Code like a teammate, not a magic box. Good teammates need clear briefs, a shared process and a way to check their work. That mindset shift matters more than any single command.
The author also asks a great question to close: which habit changed your results most? For me, it was adding verification criteria to every prompt. And they suggest sending this to the dev on your team who’s still typing one-line prompts, which feels like a kind thing to do.
Check out the full LinkedIn post to see the original one-page guide and join the conversation in the comments.