What is Claude Code
Claude Code is a terminal-level "agentic coding" tool launched by Anthropic in 2025. It directly embeds top-tier models such as Claude Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 into local terminals and IDEs, automatically parses codebases with millions of lines, generates and modifies code across multiple files, and can run commands like Shell, Git, and testing after obtaining your authorization. It helps developers compress workflows that originally required switching between tools back and forth into just a few commands to complete.
Key Features
- Deep Code Awareness Through agentic search, it globally scans the project structure and dependencies, enabling it to propose cross-module modification plans without requiring you to manually select contexts. (Anthropic)
- Multi-File Consistent Editing It can generate patches, refactor code, or build features in one go, achieving a closed loop from "Issue to PR". (Anthropic)
- Terminal & IDE Native Integration The claude CLI runs directly and can also be integrated with VS Code / JetBrains, eliminating the need for copy-pasting. (Anthropic)
- Secure and Controllable By default, any file-writing or command execution will first seek confirmation; custom whitelists are supported. (Anthropic)
- Model Advantages In Anthropic's internal agentic-coding benchmarks, Claude 3.5 Sonnet solves 64% of problems, significantly higher than Claude 3 Opus's 38%.
What could you do with Claude Code?
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Code onboarding Claude Code maps and explains entire codebases in a few seconds. It uses agentic search to understand project structure and dependencies without you having to manually select context files.
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Turn issues into PRs Stop bouncing between tools. Claude Code integrates with GitHub, GitLab, and your command line tools to handle the entire workflow—reading issues, writing code, running tests, and submitting PRs—all from your terminal while you grab coffee.
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Make powerful edits Claude Code’s understanding of your codebase and dependencies enables it to make powerful, multi-file edits that actually work.