Every Level of Claude Code Explained in 39 Minutes

by Simon Scrapes | AI Automation

Generated with claude-sonnet-4-20250514

Distill: text-first video companion — read the ideas, watch what matters

1

Beyond the Basics: Seven Levels of Claude Code Mastery ▶

Most users get stuck at level two or three of Claude Code proficiency. This comprehensive tutorial reveals what lies beyond typical usage, taking you from beginner workflows to fully autonomous systems that can run without supervision.

2

Level 1: Plan Before You Build ▶

The critical difference between beginners and successful users is one habit: planning before building. Plan mode forces Claude to research your codebase and propose detailed plans before touching any code.

  • Use plan mode (shift + tab) as a readonly mode for research and planning
  • Claude leverages built-in 'ask user questions' tool to understand context and assumptions
  • Only switch to auto accept edits mode after getting a comprehensive plan

"If my goal is to write a pull request, I will use plan mode. And I'll go back and forth with Claude until I like its plan. From there, I switch into auto accept edits mode. And Claude can usually oneshot it."

— Creator quoting Boris Churnney
3

Level 2: Onboard Claude Like a Team Member ▶

The claude.md file acts as Claude's onboarding document, containing your team's rules, preferences, and tech stack. This prevents generic output and ensures Claude works according to your specific requirements and brand voice.

  • Structure with five key sections: What is this? How do we work? Brand voice rules? Edge cases? Working conventions?
  • Keep it under 30 instructions and reference external files for detailed guidelines
  • Use the 'don't dump trick' - tell Claude where to find details rather than including everything
  • Add specific rules like 'never use m-dashes' and 'always replace anti-gravity with AG'
  • Test with sense check: readable in 60 seconds, specific examples not vague rules
4

Level 3: Commands, Skills, and Hooks for Automation ▶

Stop typing the same prompts repeatedly by creating slash commands for manual triggers, skills for automatic context loading, and hooks for mechanical post-processing tasks that don't require AI reasoning.

  • Slash commands are saved prompts stored in .claude/commands/ folder with dynamic arguments
  • Skills automatically load relevant context based on their description, stored in .claude/skills/
  • Download community skills from skills.mp for tasks like humanizing AI-generated content
  • Hooks run automatic checks after actions without using LLM tokens (e.g., banned words, formatting)
  • Configure hooks in .claude/settings.json to run programmatic validations

"Skills is how Claude thinks. So it's going to load the skill with its context into its brain while working depending on the description of the skill. Hooks are what happens automatically after claude code actually acts. And then commands are just stuff that we want to trigger manually."

— Creator
5

Level 4: Connect to External Apps with MCP Servers ▶

Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers act as bridges between Claude Code and external applications like Airtable or Notion. Instead of copying data manually, Claude can read from and write to your daily work tools directly.

  • Set up MCP servers using /mcp command or create mcp.json file manually
  • Connect to Airtable by creating personal access token with read/write permissions
  • Claude can pull content ideas from tables and update records with generated posts
  • Full pipeline: read data → process with slash commands → write results back to source
6

Level 5: Advanced Project Planning with GSD Framework ▶

The GSD framework breaks large projects into phases with plan-execute-verify loops. It solves context rot by storing project context in separate files and moves you from executor to supervisor role.

  • Framework creates .planning folder with roadmap, requirements, and state documents
  • Each phase has individual plan, execute, and user acceptance testing files
  • Solves context rot problem - at 95% context window, Claude loses 50% reliability
  • Keeps context in isolated files rather than bloating main conversation
7

Level 6: Sub-Agents for Specialized Tasks and Parallel Processing ▶

Deploy specialized sub-agents to increase leverage through either improved quality (specialist vs generalist) or increased speed (parallel processing). Each agent operates with fresh, isolated context.

  • Create specialized agents in .claude/agents/ folder with specific roles like researcher or reviewer
  • Two approaches: sequential collaboration for quality or parallel terminals for speed
  • Sub-agents prevent context bloat and reduce token costs through context isolation
  • Use 'claude --dangerously-skip-permissions' to run without approval prompts
  • Boris runs 5 Claudes locally plus 5-10 on claude.ai in parallel for maximum leverage
8

Level 7: Fully Autonomous RALPH Loops ▶

RALPH loops create hands-off systems that run until completion conditions are met. Define clear user stories with acceptance criteria in a PRD.json file, and Claude will work autonomously while managing its own context.

  • Install with /plugin install raw and create PRD.json with user stories and acceptance criteria
  • Bash script continues working until max iterations or completion state is reached
  • Always use max iterations parameter to prevent runaway token spending
  • Best for well-scoped executor tasks vs GSD framework for planning + execution
  • Claude feeds context into fresh windows to avoid context rot while maintaining task memory