How to use Claude as a real AI coworker — not just a chat window — with agents that take action on your behalf
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Most people open Claude.ai, type a question, read the answer. That's useful — but it's using maybe 20% of what Claude can actually do.
The other 80%:
This guide walks through setting up both: using Claude as a day-to-day coworker (Claude Code + Projects) and deploying Claude as an agent that does tasks without hand-holding.
Claude Code is a terminal-based AI coding assistant that has full access to your codebase. It's different from Claude.ai in a critical way: instead of copying and pasting code back and forth, Claude Code reads your files directly, understands the full context, and makes changes autonomously.
Think of it as the difference between emailing a contractor screenshots of your house (Claude.ai) vs. letting them walk through every room (Claude Code).
node -v in your terminal)Open your terminal and run:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Or with Bun:
bun install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Navigate to any folder on your computer — doesn't have to be a code project. Even a folder of documents works.
cd ~/Documents/my-project
claude
Claude Code opens in your terminal. From here, you can:
Example first prompt to try:
"Look at all the files in this folder and give me a summary of what this project does."
Claude reads everything and responds with context about your actual project — not a generic answer.
The mindset shift: stop treating Claude as a Q&A tool and start treating it as a junior developer who's always available.
Things to delegate to Claude Code:
Claude doesn't just answer — it does. It reads your code, makes the changes, runs the tests, and reports back.
On Claude.ai (the web version), Projects let you give Claude a permanent context — files, instructions, and memory that persist across conversations.
How to set up a Project:
Now every conversation in that Project starts with Claude already knowing your context. No re-explaining from scratch every time.
A Claude Agent is Claude acting autonomously on a multi-step task — it decides what to do next based on the result of each previous step, rather than waiting for you to guide it.
The practical difference:
| Regular Claude | Claude Agent | |---|---| | Answers your question | Completes a task end-to-end | | Waits for your next message | Figures out the next step itself | | One response at a time | Sequences multiple actions | | You direct everything | You give the goal, it plans the path |
Option 1: Claude.ai — Claude Pro users can enable agent mode. Just ask Claude to complete a complex task and it will switch into an extended reasoning mode where it plans steps, executes, and checks its own work.
Option 2: Claude Code — Every Claude Code session is already an agent. When you say "deploy this project," it doesn't just tell you how — it runs the commands, reads the output, handles errors, and keeps going until it's done.
Option 3: Build your own — Using the Anthropic API, you can create custom agents that run on your schedule, in your products, doing exactly what you need.
Give Claude Code a goal instead of a command:
Goal: I want a simple website that shows my three main services,
has a contact form, and looks professional. Create it.
Claude Code will:
You didn't manage any of that. You gave a goal.
Claude Code asks for permission before making changes by default. For faster, more autonomous operation:
To run in auto-approve mode (useful for trusted projects):
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions
Only use this on your own machine and for projects you own. It's powerful — and with power comes responsibility.
Claude as Coworker:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-codeclaudeClaude as Agent:
They treat it like Google. Ask a question, read the answer, close the tab. Claude works better when you treat it like a collaborator — give it context, assign it real work, and review what it produces.
They don't use Projects. Rebuilding context every conversation is slow. Set up a Project once and every conversation starts already knowing your business.
They don't let it actually do things. Claude Code is only useful if you let it run commands and make changes. The read-only conversation approach misses the point.
Want help setting up Claude Code or your first Project? Book a free 30-minute call and we'll get it configured for your specific workflow.