Claude Code Explained in 10 Minutes: Your Guide to AI-Powered App Development |

You are about to gain AI superpowers. What I'm going to show you in this article is the AI tool taking the world by storm: Claude Code. Even if you've never written a line of code before in your life, by the end of this read, you're going to be able to build and launch money-making apps faster than you can imagine.

By the end of this article, you'll be a master of how Claude Code works, how to set it up, and how to build and launch apps that will blow your mind, even if you have zero technical experience. I'll even show you several tips that will dramatically increase your building speed. If you pay attention here, you'll have AI superpowers. Let's get into it.

What Makes Claude Code a Game-Changer?

Claude Code is arguably the most powerful AI coding tool in the world right now. It surpasses alternatives like Cursor and Windsurf by enabling the construction of better apps on a larger scale with significantly less work and oversight. When using other tools, you often need to babysit every step of the way. With Claude Code, you can give a command, and it'll figure out how to do it on its own, building incredible apps without you needing to write a single line of code or provide constant oversight. You give a command, it builds the app. You can walk away and be confident in the result. It's like having your own senior employee working for you.

It allows you to work right inside your terminal on your computer. You just give it commands, and it starts building applications for you autonomously. It's able to work independently while remembering a ton of context. You literally just open up a terminal—if you're on Mac, you open Terminal; if you're on Windows, you open the Command Line—and then you just type what you want built.

In this article, I'll show you how to open it up inside Cursor, allowing you to use it side-by-side with other AI tools for even more power. It's also built on top of the most powerful coding model that exists, Claude 4 Opus, which is significantly better than many other AI models for coding. It literally feels like you have a senior engineer working for you.

Understanding the Pricing Tiers

How much does this cost? You have several options when it comes to Claude Code.

Pro Plan ($17/month): This is a good plan to get started with and what I'd recommend for people just testing the waters. The pro plan gives you access to Claude Sonnet 4, which is the less powerful of the two models but is still the second-best coding model in the world and perfectly capable for getting started.
Max Plans ($100/month and $200/month): When you're ready to get serious, these plans give you access to Opus 4. The main difference between the two is the amount of usage you get with the $200/month plan.

For the sake of this guide, the $17/month Pro plan is more than sufficient. If you're as blown away as I was, you can always upgrade later.

Setting Up Claude Code with Cursor

You can easily install Claude Code in your standard terminal, but I recommend using Cursor. There are numerous advantages to this approach, such as seeing the code change in real-time within the editor and combining Claude Code with other Cursor AI features.

Download Cursor: If you haven't already, download Cursor. It has a free tier, so you don't need to worry about paying for it right now.
Open Terminal in Cursor: Once installed, open a new project or folder. Use the shortcut control + ~ (tilde) on a Mac to open the terminal panel.
Install Claude Code: Go to the official Claude Code site, copy the installation command, paste it into your terminal in Cursor, and hit enter.
```
# Paste the installation command here
```
Once it's installed, it will prompt you to log in to verify your plan.
Run Claude Code: After installation, simply type claude into your terminal and hit enter.
```
claude
```
You now have Claude Code ready to go. For a better layout, you can right-click the terminal panel, select "Panel Position," and move it to the right. This allows you to see the entire chat history alongside your code.

Building a Calendar App from Scratch

Now for the fun part. We have a fresh project with no code. Let's start by building a calendar app.

I'll start by giving it a simple command to build the base components.

"I want to build a calendar app using Next.js. It should show a calendar view of this week and make it so I can create new events and assign dates and times to the events. It should be a really beautiful app."

You talk to Claude Code just like it's an employee. Tell it what you want, and it will go build it.

One of the standout features of Claude Code is its ability to create a to-do list for itself. Instead of trying to tackle a large task in one go, which often leads to errors with AI, it breaks the problem down into individual, manageable chunks and executes on them one by one. It will ask for approval at each step. For now, we'll just approve each step by typing "yes."

As it works, you'll see the code being written on the left-hand side of the editor. We're just sitting back while our senior developer writes all the code for us.

After it completes the V1 of the app, let's check it out. The initial version might be functional but visually unappealing. This is perfect, as it allows us to explore how to work with Claude Code to refine and improve an application.

The Secret to Mastering Claude Code: Planning vs. Execution

Here is the secret to Claude Code: understanding its two modes, Planning and Execution. This distinction isn't well-documented but is key to getting superior results.

To enter Planning Mode, you hit Shift + Tab.

In this mode, Claude Code doesn't write code. Instead, it builds a detailed plan for how to achieve your goal. Once you are satisfied with the plan, you switch back to Execution Mode by hitting Shift + Tab again, and it will implement the plan.

Let's try it. With the ugly calendar, let's enter Planning Mode and give it a new prompt:

"Okay, great work. I want to first make this calendar look really nice with clean colors and an easy-to-read, minimalistic interface. Please build the plan to execute on this. Right now, it's very plain and ugly, as if there's no styling."

Claude Code will now generate a detailed enhancement plan. It might include goals like creating a modern interface, improving typography, and even adding sophisticated effects like "glass morphism" for modals.

Enhancing the Calendar's UI

Once you review the plan and are happy with it, you can proceed. Claude Code will automatically switch to execution mode and begin implementing the design changes.

This is where the power of Claude Code truly shines. You can walk away and let it work. A great productivity tip is to have Claude Code build an app in one window while you use another AI chat to brainstorm ideas, plan your business, or even get life coaching.

After it's done, the app will have a much-improved look, with gradients, better styling, and maybe even subtle details like a glowing dot on the current day.

Advanced Techniques to 10x Your Productivity

To turn up your productivity by 10x, here are a few more critical tricks.

1. Switching Models

If you are on a higher-tier plan, you can switch to the most powerful model, Opus, by typing:

/model opus

This ensures you're using the absolute best AI for your coding tasks. Everything we've done so far was on the Sonnet model, which is still incredibly capable.

2. The claude.md Rules File

This is a powerful, lesser-known feature. Create a new file in your project root named claude.md (all caps). Whatever you put in this markdown file will be included as context in every single prompt.

Here are some powerful rules to include:

1. First, think through the problem, read the codebase for relevant files, and write a plan at todo.md.
2. The plan should have a list of to-do items that you can check off as you complete them.
3. Before you begin work, check with me, and I'll verify the plan.
4. Make every task and code change you do as simple as possible. We want to avoid making any massive or complex changes.

3. The todo.md File

As specified in our rules, create another file called todo.md. Claude Code will now use this file to maintain its to-do list, allowing you to track its progress step-by-step. It's like having a built-in project manager.

These rules and files act as guardrails, ensuring Claude Code makes impactful, well-managed changes and keeps you informed.

Putting It All Together: Adding Advanced Features

Now that we have our guardrails set up, let's combine everything we've learned. A great way to leverage a smart AI like Claude is to ask for its opinion. Back in planning mode, let's ask:

"What do you think we should add to make this calendar even more powerful?"

Claude might come back with a list of powerful features like event persistence, recurring events, multiple views, or advanced event management (descriptions, categories, attachments).

Let's say we like the event management idea. We can give it a new command:

"I really like the event management recommendation. Make it so I can manage, drag, and drop events in the calendar."

Switch back to execution mode (Shift + Tab), hit enter, and let it work. With that single prompt, Claude Code might add drag-and-drop functionality, event editing, event deletion, and persistence. The result is a calendar app that begins to rival commercial products like Google Calendar.

Final Thoughts

Here are the several key strategies to get the most out of Claude Code:

Planning vs. Execution: Master the two modes. Get a powerful plan first, then execute.
Custom Rules: Use a claude.md file to set boundaries and ensure smooth, high-quality output.
Project Management: Use a todo.md file to have Claude Code manage its own tasks and keep you updated on the bigger picture.

Claude Code is the most powerful AI coding tool available today. If you use it properly and know how to communicate with it, you can build incredible things without needing to babysit every single step of the way. If you can become a Claude Code master, you can build anything you want.