Why Claude Code: same Claude, set up for what we'll build.

Everything you learned in Cowork still applies: same Claude, same way of asking.

Your questionnaire: where the team is today.

All 8 answered.

What you want to build, and where Claude Code fits.

Same Claude as Cowork. Where Claude Code has the edge for these goals: the work lives in one project the whole team shares, with the same definitions and the same numbers for everyone.

The six building blocks of this course.

Without them, you are Claude's memory and messenger: you paste the context in and carry the answer out. These blocks move that work into the project.

VS Code: four places you'll use every day.

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1Explorer

The project's folders and files.

2Claude panel

Opens from the Claude icon in the sidebar. Where you talk to Claude Code about this project.

3Editor

Open any file to read it: a CLAUDE.md, a policy, a report.

4Terminal

Where commands run. Mostly Claude runs them for you.

Open VS Code. Find the Explorer, open a terminal (Terminal → New Terminal), then open the Claude panel.

Why VS Code: you see the whole project, not just the chat.

Seeing the whole project, every day, is how you learn to look after it as it grows.

The Claude panel: three controls worth knowing.

* On a Team plan, the account Owner switches Remote Control on first. We'll confirm it's on.

The practice project: a team handbook to open in VS Code.

• Go to github.com/Adapt-to-AI-B2B/este-handbook
• Green Code button → Download ZIP. No GitHub account needed.
• Unzip it, move the folder into your projects folder, rename it to este-handbook.
• In VS Code: File → Open Folder → este-handbook.

Este is a fictional clothing brand. The project holds documents only: how the company works, its policies, its words, some meeting notes.

Claude's memory lives in files: the chat forgets, the files don't.

Like a new colleague who forgets every conversation overnight: what's written down is still there tomorrow. The second answer works every time, for anyone, because it comes from a file in the project.

CLAUDE.md files: what Claude reads when it starts.

CLAUDE.md is the orientation manual + index for Claude.

In other projects you'll also see ABOUT-ME.md: a common name, not a required one. What matters is that CLAUDE.md says where things are.

A good CLAUDE.md is short, with a reason for every rule.

The new colleague rereads the manual every morning: keep it short enough to read, and say why.

CLAUDE.md at scale: one manual at the top, one per team.

este-handbook/
├── CLAUDE.md
├── MEMORY.md
├── docs/
│   ├── returns.md
│   ├── suppliers.md
│   └── meetings/
│       └── CLAUDE.md
├── drafts/customers/
└── .claude/rules/

isto-brain/
├── CLAUDE.md
├── MEMORY.md
├── company/  about.md  words-we-use.md  systems.md
├── product/
│   ├── CLAUDE.md
│   ├── ranges/  aw26/  ss27/  core/
│   └── suppliers/  one file per supplier
├── stock/
│   ├── CLAUDE.md  reorder rules, each with its "because"
│   └── replenishment/  allocation/
├── stores/
│   └── <store>/  one folder per store
├── online/  policies/  customer-replies/
├── reports/
│   └── weekly-sell-through/
│       ├── CLAUDE.md
│       └── definition.md
├── meetings/  CLAUDE.md
└── .claude/  rules/  skills/

The same pieces as today, more folders. Go one level deeper only when a folder gets crowded or needs its own instructions.

Definitions: add the word nobody wrote down.

• Ask Claude: "What does 'weeks of cover' mean at Este?"
• Ask Claude to add a definition to docs/words-we-use.md, with the reason we use it.
• Start a new session and ask the same question again.

The meeting notes used a word the handbook never defined. Now the answer is the same for everyone, every time.

Instructions in CLAUDE.md: add one, with its reason.

• Ask Claude to add this to the rules in CLAUDE.md: never promise when an out-of-stock item is back, because supplier lead times move.
• Start a new session. Ask Claude to draft a reply in drafts/customers/ to Ana, who asks when the Medium Green Men's T-shirt is back in stock.
• Check the reply: does it promise a date?

Documents say what's true. Instructions say how to behave: they go in CLAUDE.md, each with its reason.

Memory: CLAUDE.md says how we work, MEMORY.md what we decided.

Both files live in the project, so the whole team shares them. Claude also keeps its own notes on your laptop (/memory), but it decides what to keep: don't rely on them.

Where does each instruction go?

• "Our returns window is 30 days."
• "Always answer me in Portuguese."
• "Sage is the source of truth for stock, because the stores sell through it."
• "Replies to customers follow the brand voice."
• "I like short answers in bullets."
• "We decided Porto Foz opens on Sundays from November, because weekend sales there are the strongest."
• "The password for the online shop admin."

Places: CLAUDE.md in the project · a folder's own CLAUDE.md · MEMORY.md · a document in docs/ · ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md · nowhere.

Three things from today.

• The chat forgets. The files don't.
• CLAUDE.md is the king of files: Claude reads it first, every time.
• Give each file a clear job that fits how you work, and keep to it.

Next week: plan and build on shared data. Before then: the short pack in the Academy.

Questions?