"I built Claude Code. Here are my ten hacks" (masterclass)

About this video

• Video Title: I built Claude Code. Here are my ten hacks (masterclass)
• Channel: Nick Saraev
• Speakers: Nick Saraev
• Duration: 00:20:20

Overview

This video serves as a masterclass on how to effectively use Claude Code, presenting ten hacks and techniques derived from the work of Boris Churnney, the creator of Claude Code. The presenter aims to provide practical, hands-on examples to demystify these advanced tips, enabling viewers to significantly improve their productivity when using AI coding tools. The content covers strategies for parallel development, efficient planning, prompt engineering, managing AI agents, and optimizing the coding environment.

Key takeaways

• Git Work Trees for Parallel Development: Utilize Git work trees to run multiple instances of Claude Code on different branches of a repository, allowing for parallel development of features and efficient merging with AI assistance.
• Importance of Planning: Before coding, invest time in building a detailed plan. This approach, as advocated by Boris, saves significant implementation time by ensuring the direction is correct from the outset, as research and planning are much faster than coding.
• Iterate on claude.md (System Prompt): Continuously refine your claude.md file (or its equivalent for other agents) to incorporate learnings and prevent recurring mistakes. Agents can assist in updating this file, making it a dynamic tool for improving AI behavior.
• Utilize Skills and Commit Them: Organize reusable code snippets and standard operating procedures as "skills" and store them in a GitHub repository. This allows for easy sharing and retrieval of functional components across different projects and team members.
• Leverage Error Codes for Bug Fixes: Feeding specific error codes into Claude Code can often lead to a direct and efficient fix for bugs, simplifying the debugging process.
• Refine Prompts for Elegant Solutions: After a suboptimal output from Claude Code, instruct it to "scrap this and implement the more elegant solution," guiding it towards better results by leveraging its ability to explore a wide solution space.
• Ghost TTY for Enhanced Terminal Management: Employ Ghost TTY as a faster, more visually capable, and less compute-intensive terminal manager, especially useful for handling numerous Git work trees and multiple Claude Code instances.
• Sub-Agents for Parallel Tasks and Code Review: Employ sub-agents to parallelize tasks and perform specific functions like code review. These agents, working with limited context, can offer objective evaluations.
• Automate Database Queries: Avoid writing manual SQL queries by instructing Claude Code to handle database interactions, saving time and reducing potential errors.
• Enable Explanatory Output Style: Configure Claude Code to provide explanations for its actions and code patterns, or use the "learning" output style for hands-on coding practice, enhancing understanding and efficiency.