EDH.
Tutorial 02

First steps with Claude Code

Find your way around the app and get started with some data analysis.

Step 01

Sign in, then open Code

Launch the Claude Desktop app and sign in. You can choose between Home and Code at the top left corner. Home is just the regular Claude Chatbot. It’s useful in some cases but doesn’t create or modify files on your computer. Claude Code does that and is behind the Code tab.

The whole Claude window on the left, with the top of the sidebar marked, opened out into a close-up on the right showing the Home and Code tabs with Code marked.
Top left of the window, enlarged.
Step 02

Select a folder to work in

First thing you need to do is you need to select a folder to work in. The model can read and modify existing files inside this folder plus create new ones. To get started I recommend creating a folder called Claude Code on your desktop and select it.

The whole Claude window on the left, with the project picker marked, opened out into a close-up on the right showing the recent folders and the Open folder option marked.
Bottom of the window, enlarged. Open folder is at the foot of the list.
Step 03

The basics

These are the five controls you will use most.

The bottom control bar of the Code tab, with five numbered marks on the project folder, the prompt box, the mode button, the attach button, and the model and effort buttons.
  1. The folder you are working in. Click it to switch.
  2. The prompt box. Tell Claude what you want to do. Don’t be too detailed.
  3. Mode. Switch between Plan mode or Auto mode (more on that in the next step).
  4. Attach. Add things like files or a second folder to work in.
  5. Model and effort. How strong, and how long it thinks about a task (use Opus High as default).
Step 04

Plan mode vs. Auto mode

I recommend only switching between plan mode and auto mode.

If you select plan mode, then Claude creates a plan first and shows it to you before changing anything. In auto mode, Claude starts working right away. Plan mode becomes more and more useful the bigger the task is.

The mode menu open, showing Manual, Accept edits, Plan, Auto and Bypass permissions.
Auto is a good place to start.
Step 05

Let's make an example

Here is some data from a DoE. Download it and put it inside your Claude Code folder.

Download ↓
Step 06

Ask what the data says

You

Please take a look at the data in the folder. What is it? Give me an overview.

Step 07

Ask for a report

You

Create a summary technical report with the most important findings as interactive html file.

Usually I would recommend to go back and forth a bit to understand what you want to include in the report and what not. It’s your work after all. You are responsible and you need to understand it. In this case we take a shortcut though.

Step 08

Create any file format you want

I really recommend to experiment with html files because you can do a lot of crazy stuff like make it interactive. But if you prefer the traditional file formats, that’s possible too.

You

Also create a summary as power point presentation please.

Let's make the output yours

The output you just got is probably amazing on a first look but not that great on the second. Maybe too much text and not in the style you would write the report. It’s kind of generic.

So the next tutorial is about how to make the output actually good. The way you want it.

Email me when it’s available →

Steps last checked 2026 · 08 · 08. If one no longer matches what you see, tell me.