What Is Claude Code
An agentic CLI that reads your repo, edits files, runs tests, and commits — all with permission gates you control.
Claude Code is not autocomplete. It is an agent that operates a real terminal: it reads files, runs commands, writes code, and waits for your approval at each risky step. It lives in your terminal first, but the same agent now runs in the VS Code and JetBrains extensions, a desktop app, and on the web at claude.ai/code — everything in this course transfers.
The mental shift: instead of typing characters, you describe outcomes. Instead of clicking Run, you watch the agent run things and read back the output. Instead of debugging line by line, you tell it what's broken and it iterates until tests pass.
Vibe coding is the practice of working at this altitude. You stay in flow on the *what*, the agent handles the *how*. The skills you'll build in this course are the prompts, patterns, and guardrails that make this loop reliable.