Free Claude Code lesson 1 of 3
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A learning map, not a wall of interchangeable buzzwords.
THE AGENTIC CODING FIELD GUIDE / FINAL MERGED EDITION
Understand the code.Behind the agent.
From a Markdown skill to a running worker. A visual, hands-on guide to Claude Code, context budgets, task graphs, AFK execution, and the repositories and toolkits that connect them.
Explore the architecture →Try the factory lab
24Learning chapters
13Repositories & toolkits
65Connected concepts
OfflineOne self-contained file
01 /
Learn the system
Skills, workflows, subagents, hooks, memory and isolation—without conflating them.
Start with foundations ↗02 /
Inspect the mechanics
Follow concrete files, dispatch instructions, subprocesses, reports and checkpoints.
Open the repository field guide ↗03 /
Build a small version
Copy a skill, test a hook, run a local scheduler demo, then add only what you need.
Go to the build laboratory ↗04 /
Choose your toolkit
Compare nine toolkits by what they ship and what they keep in context—then install only what you call.
Open the toolkit comparison ↗
The single most useful distinction
Instructionswhat the model should do
Harnesswhich tools can do it
Orchestratorwhat runs next
Runnerwhere it stays alive
A skill is not a daemon. A worktree is not a security sandbox. Background is not the same as cloud. Each solves a different problem.
U1 · Supplied practical masterclass ↗
What was consolidated—and what changed
Three uploads fed this edition. Your two masterclass files are byte-for-byte identical: this edition uses that shared masterclass as its source and preserves its original chapters in the source archive. The third, the nine-toolkit guide, is now merged into live chapters: a context-budget foundation, spec-driven frameworks, a toolkit comparison with its overload check, and a load-only-what-you-call setup.
From your uploads Foundational explanations, beginner exercises, toolkit comparisons and repository framing. External recheck Selected official documentation and source files. Teaching model New diagrams, simulations and example code—not undocumented product guarantees.
Reviewed 27 September 2026; updated 3 October 2026 for Claude Code v2.1.289 (AGENTS.md, mods, plugin marketplaces, prompt audit and evals). Live default-branch links can change. This file does not execute real agents, access your accounts, or send telemetry.
U1 · Supplied practical masterclass ↗U2 · Supplied toolkits guide ↗
Next: The agentic stack →
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