💻 Claude Code for Beginners

Basic Setup Guide

Step 1 Create Your Claude Account

Go to claude.ai and create an account (or log in)
Upgrade to Pro so you can use Claude Code

Step 2 Install Visual Studio Code

Download and install Visual Studio Code
Open VS Code after installation

Step 3 Install the “Claude Code” Extension

In VS Code, click the Extensions icon in the left sidebar (the 4-squares icon)
In the search bar, type: Claude Code
Find the extension by Anthropic (the official one)
Click Install

Step 4 Sign In and Confirm

After install, look in the top-right of VS Code for the Claude icon
Click it and sign in to your Claude account
You should now be able to chat with Claude inside VS Code and start building

Quick Fixes

Restart VS Code after installing the extension
Make sure you installed the extension by Anthropic (not a random clone)
Confirm you are on a paid Claude plan
Try uninstall and reinstall the extension if the icon still doesn’t appear

10-Second Test Prompt

Paste this into Claude inside VS Code: > “Create a simple HTML page with a headline, a button, and basic styling. Put everything in one file.”

➡️ Moving from ChatGPT to Claude

The AI Brain Migration Guide

Don’t start from scratch. Use this 3-step process to carry over your years of context, style, and projects.

Step 1 Export Your “Digital Passport”

The official OpenAI export is great for archives, but it is messy.
You need a “Digital Passport” – a clean summary of your personality and preferences.
Paste the prompt below into a new chat in ChatGPT:

Prompt to use in ChatGPT: “I am migrating my context to Claude. Please scan your Memory, Custom Instructions, and recent history to generate a comprehensive Digital Passport summary. Include: User Persona (my professional background and current goals), Communication Style (my preferred tone and formatting), Technical Preferences (tools I use and coding styles), Key Knowledge (facts you have remembered about my business or life). Format as a clean Markdown document and provide a downloadable .md file.”

Step 2 Grab Your Official Archive

In ChatGPT, go to Settings > Data Controls
Click Export Data > Confirm Export
Open the email from OpenAI (can take a few minutes) and download the .zip file

Step 3 The “Brain Transplant” (Import to Claude)

For the best results, use Claude Projects (available on Pro/Team plans)
Create a new Project in Claude called “My Context”
Upload both files: Drag in your Digital_Passport.md and conversations.json
Paste the import prompt (shown below)

Import Prompt for Claude: “I am migrating my entire AI workspace from ChatGPT. I have uploaded two files: Digital_Passport.md (my core persona and style guide) and conversations.json (my raw history). Your Task: Use the Passport as your System Instructions for how to talk to me. Index the conversations.json to understand my past projects and technical solutions. Please provide a brief summary of who I am as a user and list 3 Key Insights you have gathered to confirm you have successfully ingested the data.”

Pro Tip

If you don’t want to use Projects, go to Claude Settings > Personalization > Memory and paste the text from your “Digital Passport” there. This gives Claude a “Global Memory” that stays with you across every single chat window.

3 Things to Do Immediately

Essential first steps when starting out with Claude

Step 1 Update Claude Memory Settings

Go to your Claude Settings
Turn on the toggles under the Memory heading
This ensures Claude can remember your context across conversations

Step 2 Export Your ChatGPT Data

Go to ChatGPT Settings, then Data Controls, then Export Data
ChatGPT will email you a file to download
In the downloaded file, use the conversations.json subfiles
Take that file to Claude and import it with a prompt asking Claude to update its memory

Step 3 Explore Anthropic Courses

Go to anthropic.skilljar.com

Copy the URL into Claude Code and ask it to analyze the courses

Have Claude extract and summarize relevant content based on your context

Ask Claude to install Claude Skills based on what it knows about you

5 Ready-to-Use Cowork Prompts

Automation templates you can start using right now

1. The Morning Briefing

Every morning at 8am, run this task: Check my Gmail for any unread emails received in the last 24 hours and flag anything urgent or requiring a reply. Then check my Google Calendar for today’s events and any scheduling conflicts. Finally, compile everything into a clean daily briefing document saved to my Desktop called ‘Daily Brief – \[date\].md’. Format it with three sections: Urgent Emails, Today’s Schedule, and Top Priorities. Run this every weekday automatically.

2. The File Organisation Assistant

I’m going to give you access to a folder on my Desktop called \[folder name\]. Go through every file in it and do the following: rename each file using this naming convention – \[YYYY-MM-DD\] -\[Project Name\] – \[File Type\], sort them into subfolders by category (Images, Documents, Spreadsheets, Videos, Other), and delete any duplicate files or files under 1 KB that are likely junk. Once done, save a summary report called ‘Organisation Report.txt’ inside the folder listing everything you changed.

3. The Phone-to-Desktop Task

I’m sending you a task from my phone. Here’s what I need done: \[describe the task, e.g. ‘Take the client brief called ProjectX.pdf in my Downloads folder and turn it into a full project plan’\]. When you’re finished, save the completed file to my Desktop in a folder called ‘Ready to Send’ and name it clearly so I know exactly what it is when I get back to my desk. Let me know when it’s done.

4. The Automated Weekly Report

Every Friday at 9am, run this task: Open my weekly metrics spreadsheet saved at \[file path\]. Pull this week’s numbers for \[specify metrics, e.g. ‘views, followers, revenue, leads’\]. Open my weekly report template saved at \[file path\]. Fill in the template with this week’s data, add a one-paragraph AI summary of what the numbers mean and what to focus on next week, and save the completed report to my Reports folder named ‘Weekly Report – \[date\].docx’. Run this every Friday automatically.

5. The Research-to-Deliverable Pipeline

I need you to research the following question thoroughly: \[insert your question, e.g. ‘What are the top 5 newsletter monetisation strategies working in 2026?’\]. Search the web for current information, analyse what you find, and then compile everything into a professional PowerPoint presentation with the following slides: Title slide, Executive Summary, one slide per key finding with supporting data, and a Recommendations slide. Save the finished file to my Desktop as ‘\[Topic\] – Research Report.pptx’. Make it clean, professional, and ready to present.

Tips for Using These

For the scheduled ones (Morning Briefing and Weekly Report), set them up inside Cowork’s Schedule tab so they run automatically
Replace anything in \[brackets\] with your actual file paths, folder names, and metrics before pasting
The Phone-to-Desktop prompt is designed to be sent from the Claude mobile app – keep it saved in your notes for quick copy-paste on the go

Guide 05

Top 5 Claude Skills for Website Design

Install these skills to level up your builds

1 Brand Guidelines Skill

Ensures consistent brand identity across all your pages and components. github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/brand-guidelines

2 UI/UX Pro Max Skill

Elevates your interface design with professional UI/UX patterns. github.com/nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill

3 Design Auditor

Audits your design for accessibility, consistency, and best practices. github.com/BehiSecc/awesome-claude-skills

4 Frontend Design Skill

Generates polished, production-grade frontend code and layouts. github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/frontend-design

5 Webapp Testing Skill

Automates testing workflows for your web applications. github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/webapp-testing

Claude Guide w/ Templates