The argument in one line.
Claude Code builds web applications autonomously by separating planning mode from execution mode, and combining that workflow with a CLAUDE.md rules file and todo.md project manager produces apps faster and more reliably than babysitting Cursor or Windsurf.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- A non-technical founder or solopreneur who wants to build a working web app prototype in under an hour without hiring a developer.
- Someone with basic terminal comfort (can open a command line) who's heard about Claude Code but hasn't installed or used it yet.
- A developer or coder who uses Cursor or other AI coding tools and wants to understand Claude Code's workflow advantages and specific power-user techniques.
SKIP IF…
- You need to build production-grade applications with strict security, testing, or compliance requirements — this covers rapid prototyping only.
- You're on a tight budget and the $20/month Claude Pro subscription (required for full Claude Code access) is a barrier to entry.
The full version, fast.
Claude Code is a terminal-based AI coding agent that builds applications autonomously instead of requiring line-by-line supervision, and three undocumented workflow habits separate beginners from power users. Install it inside Cursor so you can watch code change in real time, then anchor every session around Plan Mode (Shift+Tab) to draft an approach before any code is written, and switch to execution only after the plan looks right. Add a CLAUDE.md rules file that forces the agent to research first, write a plan to todo.md, check in before working, and keep every change as small as possible. Bounce ideas back to the agent for feature suggestions, switch to Opus when available, and trust it to execute while you work in parallel.
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00:00 – 00:36
01 · Hook + promise
Positions Claude Code as best AI coding tool, better than Cursor and Windsurf. Senior engineer metaphor established.
00:36 – 02:20
02 · What Claude Code is
Terminal-based autonomous coding inside Cursor, live demo of a command being issued.
02:20 – 04:24
03 · Pricing breakdown
Pro $17/mo Sonnet 4, Max 5x $100/mo, Max 20x $200/mo Opus 4. Recommends $17 to start.
04:24 – 06:19
04 · Install Claude Code in Cursor
Download Cursor free, npm install command, log in, move terminal to right panel.
06:19 – 10:45
05 · Build the calendar app
First prompt builds Next.js calendar; demonstrates todo-list approach vs one-shotting; YOLO mode; code writes itself.
10:45 – 12:26
06 · Secret 1 - Plan Mode
Shift+Tab toggles Plan Mode ON. Undocumented. Start in plan mode, get the plan right, then Shift+Tab to execute.
12:26 – 15:37
07 · Plan Mode demo
Asks Claude to plan a calendar UI redesign; Claude produces detailed plan including glassmorphism; host approves; auto-switches to execution.
15:37 – 16:42
08 · Secret 2 - /model opus
Type /model opus to switch to Claude Opus 4. Only for $100/$200 plan users.
16:42 – 18:54
09 · Secret 3 - CLAUDE.md and todo.md
Create CLAUDE.md rules file and todo.md project manager. Rules template shown on screen.
18:54 – 21:26
10 · Ask Claude what to build next
Ask Claude for improvement suggestions in plan mode; picks event management; adds drag-and-drop, edit, delete in one prompt.
21:26 – 23:37
11 · Recap and CTA
Three frameworks on sticky-note graphic: Plan vs Execute, CLAUDE Rules, Project Management. Subscribe CTA.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- Claude Code runs inside Cursor's terminal, combining the autonomous agent with a code editor that shows every file change in real time — giving visibility without requiring technical oversight.
- Plan Mode, activated with Shift+Tab, forces Claude Code to produce a complete plan before writing any code — the single most important workflow change for non-technical users.
- A CLAUDE.md rules file tells Claude Code your standards, preferences, and project context once — every subsequent session reads it automatically without re-explanation.
- A todo.md file that Claude Code updates as it completes tasks gives you a live project manager that tracks progress across multiple sessions without losing context.
- Babysitting is the primary cost of using Cursor — Claude Code eliminates it by working independently while remembering full context, which is the practical difference between an intern and a senior engineer.
- The pro plan at $17 per month gives access to Claude Sonnet 4, which is the second-best coding model in the world and sufficient for testing and early projects.
- Running Claude Code in Cursor's right-panel terminal while the file tree is visible on the left is the correct workspace layout for monitoring autonomous builds without interrupting them.
- A specific prompt — name the location, the audience, the visual style, and the conversion goal — produces dramatically better results than 'build me a website.'
- The install command is a single npm line that takes under a minute; the only follow-up is typing 'claude' in the terminal to launch the agent.
- The $200 plan is justified only for developers coding 8-10 hours per day — for everyone else, the $17 plan provides enough tokens to build real projects.
- Claude Code is the current best coding agent because it works at a larger scale with significantly less oversight than Cursor or Windsurf, not because it uses a different model architecture.
- Non-technical founders can build and launch money-making apps without writing code because Claude Code handles all technical decisions autonomously within the constraints the CLAUDE.md specifies.
Plan first, then execute — that is the whole trick
What it teaches
Three undocumented Claude Code workflow features — Plan Mode, a CLAUDE.md rules file, and a todo.md project manager — turn a beginner session into a structured, self-managing build process.
01Hook + promise
- The senior engineer metaphor sets the right expectation for how to interact with Claude Code — give a clear brief, then trust the tool to execute rather than micromanaging each step.
02What Claude Code is
- Claude Code runs autonomously inside a terminal, reading the codebase, planning changes, and executing them without requiring approval at every step.
03Pricing breakdown
- The $17/month Pro plan on Claude Sonnet is sufficient to start; upgrading to a Max plan unlocks Opus, which is meaningfully better for complex multi-file projects.
04Install Claude Code in Cursor
- Installing Claude Code inside Cursor lets you see the code being written in real time on one side while issuing commands on the other — a more useful setup than a standalone terminal.
05Build the calendar app
- Claude Code's biggest advantage is that it breaks tasks into a to-do list and executes them sequentially, rather than trying to build everything in one shot.
- YOLO mode removes the per-step approval prompt and lets Claude run uninterrupted — useful once you trust the tool and want to step away during a build.
06Secret 1 - Plan Mode
- Plan Mode (Shift+Tab) is not documented but is essential — entering it before any major change forces Claude to produce a detailed plan for review before a single line of code is written.
- Getting the plan right before switching to execution mode is what separates good results from wasted tokens — approve the plan, then let it run.
07Plan Mode demo
- Claude's plans are specific enough to include design choices like glassmorphism and hover transitions — reviewing them before execution catches misunderstandings before any code is touched.
08Secret 2 - /model opus
- Typing /model opus in the Claude Code terminal switches to Opus mid-session — only available on Max plans, but a useful option when a harder problem needs a more capable model.
09Secret 3 - CLAUDE.md and todo.md
- A CLAUDE.md file in the project root is included as context on every prompt — it is the place to set rules that apply for the entire project, like 'make every change as simple as possible'.
- A todo.md file that Claude updates as it works gives a persistent, readable record of what has been completed and what is next — it turns an opaque background process into a trackable one.
10Ask Claude what to build next
- Asking Claude what it would add next — in plan mode — surfaces ideas the user would not have thought of, and the best suggestions can then be immediately executed in the same session.
11Recap and CTA
- The three-framework summary — Plan vs Execute, CLAUDE Rules, Project Management — is the repeatable workflow that applies to any project, not just the calendar app built in this video.
Terms worth knowing.
- Claude Code
- Anthropic's terminal-based AI coding agent that autonomously reads, writes, and executes code across an entire project with minimal human oversight.
- Plan Mode
- A Claude Code feature activated by pressing Shift+Tab that makes the AI propose a step-by-step implementation plan for review before writing any code.
- CLAUDE.md
- A markdown rules file placed at a project root that gives Claude Code persistent instructions about the codebase, coding style, and behavior for every session in that project.
- todo.md
- A markdown file used as a lightweight project manager where Claude Code tracks pending tasks, completed items, and next steps across a multi-session build.
- Next.js
- A React-based web framework for building full-stack web applications, supporting server-side rendering, static generation, and API routes out of the box.
- autonomous agent
- An AI system that can plan, execute multi-step tasks, and make decisions independently without requiring human approval at each step.
- Cursor
- An AI-powered code editor that integrates language models into a VS Code-like interface, often used alongside or instead of Claude Code for interactive coding.
- terminal
- A command-line interface on your computer where you type text commands, used to run Claude Code, install packages, and interact with your project.
- drag-and-drop
- A UI interaction pattern where users click and hold an element, move it to a new position, and release to place it — commonly used in calendar and kanban interfaces.
Lines you could clip.
00:00
“You are about to gain AI superpowers.”
02:20
“It literally feels like you have a senior engineer working for you.”
08:48
“When AIs try to one shot things, that is when they usually screw up.”
11:26
“The secret to Claude Code is planning and execution. This actually is not in any of the documentation.”
22:02
“I love to take any apps I pay for, like Google Calendar, and just build my own version. AI is actively saving me money.”
Word for word.
Read-along
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
metaphoranalogy
00:00You are about to gain AI superpowers. What I'm gonna show you in this video 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 these fifteen minutes, you're gonna be able to build and launch money making apps faster than you can imagine.
00:18By the end of this video, 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 two tips that will 10 x your building speed. I'm serious.
00:33If you pay attention here, you have AI superpowers. Let's get into it. ClaudeCode is the most powerful AI coding tool in the world right now.
00:42It is better than Cursor. It is better than Windsurf. It is able to build way better apps on a way larger scale with significantly less work and oversight needed.
00:53When using Cursor, you 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 and build you really incredible apps. With a, you not needing to write a single line of code, and b, with you not having to give any oversight.
01:08You give a command, it builds the app, you can walk away, and you're good to go. It's like having your own . And what it allows you to do is right inside your terminal on your computer, just give it commands, and it starts building applications for you autonomously.
01:23It's able to work independently while remembering a ton of context for you. You literally just open up a terminal like you can see here on the site.
01:31If you're on Mac, you open terminal. If you're on Microsoft, you open up the command line, and then you just type into the terminal what you want built, and then ClaudeCode goes off and builds it for you. What I'm gonna show you in this video is actually how you can open it up inside a cursor so that you can use it side by side with other AI tools to get even more power out of it.
01:51So you can see I opened up my terminal here inside a cursor. I installed Claude, and I'm able to give it commands like build out this app for me. And I can hit enter, and it goes, and it just does a tremendous amount of work.
02:03Well, if I was using Cursor by itself, the agent built in, I would sit there and babysit Claude. Code can do a lot of things independently. It's also built on top of the most powerful coding model that exists, which is Claude for Opus, which is 10 times better than any other AI model you can use for coding.
02:20It literally feels like you have a senior engineer working for you. I've never felt this before. When I used Cursor or Windsurf, it really felt like I was working with kinda like an intern that I had a handhold.
02:30But with Claude Code, this feels like I'm working with, like, a , who I can just give commands to, then walk away and trust them to get it done. Let's talk about pricing. How much does this cost?
02:42You have three options when it comes to Claude code. You have the pro Claude plan, which is $17 a month.
02:49This is a good plan to get started with and probably what I'd recommend with people just testing this out, testing the waters, playing along with this video. The pro plan only gives you access to Claude Sonnet four, which is the less powerful model of the two Claude models. Right?
03:04So you have Claude Sonnet four and Claude Opus four. Sonnet four is still amazing in what I would consider the second best coating model in the world, and it's good enough to get started. Right?
03:14If you're just testing the waters, Claude Sonnet four is gonna do some incredible things. But when you're ready to take the leap, when you're ready to get serious, you also have the two max plans for Claude for a $100 a month and $200 a month. And really, the only difference between these two is you get way more usage out of the $200 a month plan.
03:31But both of these give you access to Opus four, which again is the most powerful AI coding model in the entire world. For the sake of this video, if you're new to the Claude code and the Claude ecosystem, you're just fine with the $17 month pro plan.
03:44You can test this out with Claude Sonnet four. And if you're as blown away as I was, then you can upgrade to the next levels. I personally am on the $200 plan, and the only reason for that is I code, like, ten hours a day.
03:57So I need the most amount of credits to build with, but you can easily get away with any of these two tiers if you're just getting started. For the sake of this video though, I'd start with the $17 plan. So do yourself a favor real quick.
04:08Pause the video. Sign up for one of these plans. Again, if you're just getting started, you're not even paying for Claude yet, you're totally cool trying this out with the seven if you're looking to get hardcore and you wanna code every single day, you can easily upgrade to the $100 whenever you want.
04:20Once that is done and you are signed up, you are ready to install Claude code. Again, you can easily do this in your terminal.
04:27If you're just on Mac, you can open up a terminal. But what I'm gonna recommend doing to install Claude code is actually use Cursor. There are a lot of advantages to running Claude code in Cursor.
04:38One of them being is you can actually see the code being changed in real time. So it's a code editor. Right?
04:43So you can see code being changed. And number two is you can combine it with other cursor features that I like, which I covered in my last video, but I'll touch on here as well. But you can combine the Claude code features with some other cursor AI functionality too, which we'll get into.
04:57So do yourself a favor for the sake of this video, download Cursor two if you haven't already, and I'm gonna show you how to install Claude code inside a Cursor in a second. There's a free tier, so you don't need to worry about paying for this right now either.
05:09Once you have cursor installed, feel free to open it up, open up a new project, a new folder, very simple to do, and you will see this screen. What we're going to do now is install Claude code inside our terminal inside cursor so that we can combine all the functionality together. So what you're gonna do inside here is hit control tilde if you're on Mac, which opens up your terminal here, which you can see there.
05:31All we need to do, and this is very, very simple, is copy in the Claude code command. So I'm gonna go back to the Claude code site, and what you're gonna see right here is this command right here. You hit copy.
05:40You paste it into cursor right there in your terminal, and then you hit enter, ClaudeCode's gonna install for you. Very, very simple. Once it's installed, it's just gonna have you log in so you can see what plan you're on, and you're good to go.
05:51I'll also put the command down below, so feel free to pause here. Copy and paste the command from the description and put it into your terminal. One last step.
05:59Once you have that installed, all you do is type in Claude to your terminal, hit enter, and you have Claude code ready to go. There you can see it.
06:09Claude code is set. I'm gonna do one more stylistic thing here that I think you should do as well.
06:14If you right click on the terminal up here and then do panel position, click right. I like it over here on the right hand side. Then we can close the cursor AI agent, so all we see is Claude code.
06:26I just like having it here so we can see the entire chat on the right hand side. So now we have it installed. Time to start use here's the fun part.
06:33This is where we get to start building the app. So I'm gonna do a few things here. I'm gonna show you how to build the app.
06:37I'm also gonna show you two tricks I think will give you superpowers when it comes to Claude code. I'm gonna show you the kind of mindset you need when using it that's gonna make you super, super effective, and I'm gonna give you some little tricks I promise you haven't seen anywhere else that's gonna make it so much easier to build apps even if you've never written code before.
06:56So let's do this. We a fresh project in Cursor. We have no code written whatsoever.
07:00Let's get this started. Let's start off by building a calendar app. So I'm gonna have Claude code build out kind of the base components of the calendar app, and and then I'm gonna show you these really awesome tricks that are gonna make it so easy to build apps with Claude Code.
07:14So I'm gonna start off by giving it a simple command to build the app. We're gonna build a calendar app using Claude Code. Once we hit this, it's gonna start building out the app.
07:25I'm gonna go over some advantages of Claude code and how it's working. Then I'm gonna give you these awesome tricks. I'm gonna change how you build apps forever.
07:32So let's do this. I put in the command. I wanna build a calendar app using Next.
07:36Js. For those who don't know, Next. Js, very popular web app technology.
07:40It's gonna make it easy to build and scale your apps. 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.
07:49So you're talking to Claude Co. Just like it's your employee, just like it's an engineer that works for you. Tell it what you want it to build, and it's gonna go build it for you.
07:57Let's set up the basic version of this app. I'll show you the tips and tricks, and it'll make this app look really awesome. So let's hit enter here.
08:04And as this is building, make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you learned anything at all. All I do is make incredible videos about how to build with AI. What Claude code is now going to do is gonna start thinking, and it's gonna start showing you how to build the app out.
08:18So it's okay. I'll help you build a beautiful calendar app with Next. Js.
08:21Let me start off by setting up the project. So it's setting up the project. What I love about Claude code that I don't really see any other tools do is it sets up a to do list.
08:30Right? So when you give a command to Cursor, for instance, and this is a big difference between the two, it thinks very one dimensionally where Cursor would be like, okay. I'm just gonna one shot this command.
08:40I'm gonna you tell me to build a calendar app. I'm just gonna one shot building the calendar app. And when AIs try to one shot things, that's when they usually screw up.
08:50What Claude code does is it doesn't try to one shot it. It actually breaks it down into individual to dos. So it makes like a to do list for itself, then it goes and executes on that to do list.
09:01So instead of one shotting everything, it breaks it down into tiny little chunks, and it executes on those chunks for you so that you get really, really good result. So every step of the way, it asks, do you want me to proceed so you can approve it? If you wanna go in YOLO mode, you can say yes and don't ask me again.
09:16Uh, let's just, for the sake of this video, just say yes. But as a side note, when I'm building apps personally, I go into YOLO mode. I let it do whatever it wants, and I've never once ran into an issue.
09:25I never once messed anything up. So let's, for the sake of this video, just hit yes for it to proceed, and it'll start building out our app. So as it goes through, it's gonna ask for approval on installing different technologies.
09:36Don't worry here. Just hit yes. It's gonna start installing all the tech you need to build out your app.
09:40And also make sure to build along with me here. So if you want, pause the video, grab the command from down below. I'm gonna put all my prompts down below as well, and build this out with me.
09:48The best way to learn is by doing. So as you can see here, as it goes through its to do list, it crosses it off and then moves on to the next to do items, which is amazing. It's it's like, it can manage itself.
09:59It can iterate and think about what it's doing and then improve on what it's doing. So I'm just gonna keep hitting yes as it goes down through its to do list. And by the end of this, it's gonna have a beautiful calendar app.
10:08Once it's done here, we're gonna go into the depths around switching models, around tips and tricks, planning mode versus execution, and I'm gonna give you those two hacks I think will blow your mind with Claude Code. So as you can see on the left hand side, inside cursor, the code is being written by Claude Code.
10:23We're not doing anything. We're just sitting back, relaxing while our senior developer goes and writes all the code for us. With Cursor, I do need I need to babysit each step of the way to make sure it's running well.
10:33With Claude, just sit back, relax, and it goes right down the list of to do items. Alright. Looks like it completed the v one of the calendar app.
10:41So let's check out what it looks like, and then we'll start getting into the workflow you wanna do with Claude code that makes it so much more powerful than any other AI tool. And I'll show you the secret to how I use it that gets you way more productivity from Claude Code.
10:56So let's check out the app first. I'm gonna bring over the local host, see what we got here. Okay.
11:00So we do have a calendar. I'm gonna be quite frank with you. It looks very ugly.
11:04This is a very ugly looking calendar. So this is good. I'm happy it looks this ugly because now I can show you how to work with Claude code to make this look way better and have way more functionality.
11:15So let's go back into Claude code, and let's get into the secret sauce here. So we're back into Claude code. Here is the secret to Claude Code.
11:22The secret to Claude Code is planning and execution. There's two phases to Claude Code.
11:28This actually isn't in any of the documentation. They just kinda expect you to know this, is there's a planning mode with Claude Code and an execution mode. And what you wanna do is if you can nail the distinction between these two modes, you can get so much better results.
11:42So we're in Claude code. What you wanna do is hit shift tab. When you hit shift tab, you can see plan mode on.
11:49This isn't in any documentation. If you go on Claude's site and look at all the documentation, for some reason, it doesn't tell you that there's a shift tab to turn plan mode on. So what you wanna do when working with Claude code is you start off in plan mode through shift tab, and then once you have the plan correct, you switch to execution mode with one more shift tab to execute.
12:09This is going to make it so you get so much better result. So pause here, get into plan mode, hit shift tab, and I'm gonna start walking you through how to use plan mode to get incredible apps. Okay.
12:19Great work. I wanna first make this calendar look really nice with clean colors and easy to read minimalistic interface. Please build the plan to execute on this.
12:28Right now, it's very plain and ugly as if there's no styling. We're gonna hit enter. Now what Claude code's gonna do because it's in planning mode is build us a plan that it can execute on.
12:38So it's designing it right now. You can see all the tokens being used. You can see which files it's reading to do the planning.
12:44If we wanted to interrupt, we can hit escape, but it's doing good so far. So we're gonna see what kind of plan it comes up with here. And then before we execute, I'm gonna show you one more amazing trick that's gonna make Claude code even more powerful than it already is.
12:57But let's take a look at the plan first before we do that. Okay. So here's Claude's plan.
13:01I like the little interface it gives us here. So calendar UI enhancement plan. Look how in-depth this is.
13:06Look how in-depth this is. That's pretty cool. Design goals.
13:09Create a beautiful, modern, minimalistic calendar interface with soft, pleasing colors and good contrast. Improve spacing and typography and enhance the visual hierarchy. Alright.
13:19And then it has a plan changes. Replace the harsh gray colors with softer colors. I like that.
13:24Oh, look at this. Glassmorphism effect for modal backdrop.
13:29So we're only a few days removed from the Apple event where they made glassmorphism like the whole Apple design language. Claude code is already aware of that.
13:37It's gonna start implementing it into our calendar, so I'm excited to see how it does. Let's see how good it can do there. Uh, and it has the rest of the plan, smooth hover transitions.
13:46Okay. I like that. Would I like to proceed?
13:48I think that's a pretty good looking plan, don't you? Let's do this. Let's hit enter on.
13:51So let's proceed. And now it is automatically switched to execution mode, and now it is going to implement the calendar design.
13:58So automatically switched to execution, and now it's writing the code to make this look really, really good. And, at this point, if I want to, I can walk away. That's how much I trust Claude code is this is the only AI where, for me, it's been so good.
14:12I feel like I can walk away and do other things. What I actually do is, and this would be my recommendation to you, there's one or two things you can do when Claude Code's working. One is you can build other apps.
14:23So I actually work on two apps at a time at all times because that's how good Claude Code is. But the other thing you can do as well if you're just getting started, and I'd recommend this, open up a second window, open up a chat, whether you like chat GPT or Claude. Open up that chat, and just chat with an AI.
14:38Talk about what you're building. Talk about what else you wanna build. Talk about your life goals.
14:42Set up a life coach. Whatever you wanna do, That's how I get the most productivity out of my AI sessions is I try to do two things at once. I have an AI build an app for me, and then I also have an AI coaching me, talking about planes, talking about what I'm working on, and improving my business.
14:57That's what I recommend for you. Alright. Looks like it's all done.
15:00Let's check this out. Let's see how it did. Boom.
15:03Okay. That's pretty nice styling. Let's see.
15:05We got this nice gradient on top here. Alright. Let's do new event.
15:09Oh, it does kinda have that glass morphism blurry effect in the background. Let's let's get one thing correct here. Still very ugly.
15:16There's still bordering issues here. There's still some things that need good styling, but we can work with this. This is good.
15:22Again, this is all done with pretty much two prompts so far, even entire calendar app with pretty cool modern styling. You can even see some of the nice little details here. There's, like, a glowing little dot here on the current day we're in.
15:33I like that. So I showed you a little bit about planning execution mode.
15:37We're gonna implement a couple more features. I wanna show you some other tips and tricks that are really, really critical for Claude code that are gonna turn up your productivity by 10. So let's do this.
15:47I wanna show you a couple more things here. I wanna show you another trick they don't show you, which is slash model. So if you do slash model and then do Opus, so you type in Opus, you are gonna be able to switch to their best programming model, which is Opus, Claude Opus four.
16:03It is by far the smartest, best AI coding model there is on planet Earth. So if you are on the 100 or $200 plan, you wanna do that. You wanna do slash model Opus.
16:13If you're still on the $17 plan, stick with Sonnet. That's totally cool. It still works really, really well.
16:18Up to now, everything we've done is on the Sonnet model, so it works well. But I wanna add a couple more features to this calendar app. But before we do that, I wanna show you another really, really powerful trick with Claude code.
16:30If you go over here to your file system and you do new file, right click, new file, we're gonna make a new file called Claude, in all caps, dot m d, so for markdown. This is going to be our rules file for Claude code. Whatever we put in here is gonna be included as context to Claude code with every single prompt to do.
16:51So what we're gonna do is we're gonna put in a few rules here that are really powerful, that are gonna make Claude code even better at coding. So here's the rules we're gonna put in. I'll also include this down below in the description, so feel free to pause here, copy and paste it from the description, and then put it into your own application.
17:07And right before I go through these rules, let's make one more file that make Claude even more powerful. So new file, and we're gonna call this to do dot m d. So another markdown file, to do dot m d.
17:19So once you have claw dot m d, to do dot m d, and then you copy and paste these rules in, you'll be good to go for what I'm about to show you. So here we go. This is what we put in the rules.
17:27This will be included in every single clawed prompt you do now. First thing through the problem, read the code base for relevant files, and write a plan to to do dot m d. So what this is going to do is basically build us a project manager.
17:39So everything Claude does, it's going to add its to do list to to do dot markdown. So as it goes, if we ever check back in, we can read that file and see what progress Claude has done in its to do list so we can track everything it's doing step by step. So that's really powerful.
17:55The plan should have a list of to do items that you can check off as you complete them, just as I explained. Before you begin work, check me, and I'll verify the plan, kinda what we're doing with the plan mode. One other really important rule here that's I included as well is make every task and code change you do as simple as possible.
18:12We wanna avoid any making any massive or complex changes. This is just a good rule to include in any other AI programming tool you use, so I include that as well. So we have this rule list here.
18:22This is included with every single Claude command you do, and this is gonna make it so that, a, the changes that Claude code makes are impactful, and, b, it keeps you up to date with everything that Claude code is doing so you can track progress as it goes, which makes it really easy to manage. It's kinda like setting boundaries for your own software engineer that's working for you.
18:42So now that we set up all our guardrails here, let's put everything I've taught you together so far into this and keep building our calendar app. Right? So far, I taught you about planning and execution mode.
18:54I taught you about giving it rules that it will follow to make really good changes, and then I taught you about the to do list file that it's going to keep track of all its tasks in. So now we're really organized.
19:07Claude Code's gonna be a really good employee for us, and it's gonna write really good code. So let's go back into Claude Code. Let's do shift tab to go back into planning mode, and let's start building out more features here.
19:19So one thing I like to do before I give more commands to Claude Code, and this is a really good tip as well for using Claude Code, I think you'll like. So what I wanna do next is add to do items to the calendar.
19:31So we can also add to do instead of events, but I wanna get a feel for what Claude code thinks it should do next. So since it's such a powerful smart model, before I do any next steps, I wanna get insight into what it thinks we should do next.
19:44So here's what I'm gonna do. What do you think we should add to make this calendar even more powerful? One of my favorite things to do with AIs, especially Claude Cote, who's so smart, is just ask for its opinion.
19:55What should we add next? What do you think you can do to improve it? And a lot of the time, what I find is to actually give suggestions that I never thought of that makes the app way more powerful.
20:04Let's hit enter on that in plan mode, and let's see what kind of plan it comes up with. Alright. So here's the plan.
20:09Wow. Look at this plan. Let's here's the plan that they came up with.
20:12A powerful features. One, event persistence and storage. Okay.
20:16So being able to store the events to a database. That's pretty good for future proofing. Adding recurring events, adding multiple views.
20:23Oh, I like that. Advanced event features, so being able to add descriptions, categories, locations, attachments.
20:29That's pretty cool. Search and filter, keyboard shortcuts. So I like some of these event management.
20:34Let's have it implement the event manage. So I'm gonna come back in. I'm gonna say I'm gonna hit the escape button, and I'm gonna say, I really like the event manage recommendation.
20:44Make it so I can manage drag and drop events in the calendar. So we're gonna switch back to execution mode. So shift shift tab, and I'm gonna hit enter, and it's gonna get to work.
20:53And by the end of what it's doing, I'm gonna have that implemented. Right? And so this is the most powerful way to work with Claude code where we're going back and forth.
21:01I'm asking for ideas. We're bouncing ideas, and I tell it, okay. Go ahead and execute on the ideas.
21:06This is what makes Claude Code so much more powerful than anything else out there. Okay. Looks like it's all done here.
21:12What did we get? So with that one prompt, Claude Code added drag and drop events, edit events, delete events, event persistence, description field, and the enhanced UX.
21:23So let's check this out. Let's see how it did here. So we have the calendar.
21:27Let's add an event. Record a YouTube video.
21:31Let's give it a date of today. Let's create the event. Boom.
21:35There it is. Let's see. Can we drag and drop it?
21:37We can. I mean, that looks just like Google Calendar. That's pretty amazing.
21:40So it added the drag and drop, which is sick. Let's see if we can edit it. Yep.
21:44We can edit it. Let's give it a different theme. Update it.
21:47It updates it. So we added entirely new editing with just that one prompt, and it did it.
21:53It made it looks really nice. I think the whole thing looks really nice. And this is what I love to do with AI is I love to take any apps I use regularly that I pay for, like Google Calendar, and just build my own version of it.
22:04Then I can go back, cancel the plan, save money. AI is actively saving me money. So, again, here are the three main ways to get the most out of Claude Code.
22:12You wanna think about planning versus execution, so being in planning mode, then switching execution mode. Get a really powerful plan, and then execute on it. You wanna have your Claude rules set up, which, again, pause.
22:23Look down below in the description. I have all the rules you need. Put that into your rules file.
22:28That makes sure Claude code runs very, very smoothly. And then you want to think about project management. So you want to think about managing your tasks, managing what you want to build next, and making sure Claude code manages that so that it thinks about the bigger picture as it's completing all its small tasks.
22:46Claude code is the most powerful AI coding tool I've ever used. If you use it properly and you know how to communicate with it, you can get more out of it than you can possibly imagine. It can build incredible things without you needing to babysit every single step of the way.
23:03I'm now using it over cursor. I'm now using it over windsurf. It is amazing.
23:07Feel free to watch this back over all my tips and tricks and rules again so that you can become a Claude code master. And if you can become a Claude code master, you can build anything you want. To see my advanced workflow with Claude code, feel free to check out the video linked somewhere on this screen right now.
23:23It'll show you how I use it side by side with other AI tools to build really amazing things. And make sure to hit the subscribe button and leave a like if you learned anything at all. All I do is make awesome videos about how to build stuff with AI.
23:35I'll see you in the next video.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
In two seconds Alex Finn makes a promise most tutorials spend five minutes building to: you are about to gain AI superpowers. No hedging, no context-setting, just the outcome and then 23 minutes of live proof.
Named ideas worth stealing.
11:26model
Plan Mode vs. Execution Mode
- Shift+Tab to enter Plan Mode
- Describe what you want Claude to build
- Review the plan Claude generates
- Shift+Tab again to switch to Execution Mode
Two-phase workflow: plan first so Claude thinks holistically, then execute. Avoids one-shot failures.
Steal forAny AI coding tutorial, Claude Code tips video, productivity content for builders
16:42list
CLAUDE.md Rules File
- Think through the problem, read codebase for relevant files, write a plan to todo.md
- Plan should have checkable todo items
- Before beginning work, check me and I will verify the plan
- Make every task and code change as simple as possible
System prompt for Claude Code baked into the project. Applied as context on every prompt automatically.
Steal forCLAUDE.md setup guide, AI rules template content, how-to-manage-AI-agents video
17:40concept
todo.md Project Manager
CLAUDE.md instructs Claude to maintain a todo.md file with a running checklist of tasks. Enables passive oversight without babysitting.
Steal forAI project management tips, building-in-public content
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
23:00subscribe
“Make sure to hit the subscribe button and leave a like if you learned anything at all.”
Standard subscribe ask at end plus teaser to advanced workflow video on-screen. No mid-roll CTA.
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
Visual structure at a glance.
