Claude AI for beginners.

New to Claude? Start here. Read these top to bottom and you'll learn Claude one step at a time, like taking a class.

Full transparency. These follow Anthropic's free Claude courses. I take each one, earn the certificate, and rewrite the lessons in plain English. Not affiliated with Anthropic, and every guide links to the real course so you can take it yourself.
Claude 101
✓ My Anthropic Certificate

Learn Claude, one lesson at a time

By the end, you'll go from "what is this thing" to actually using Claude on real work.

Take the official Claude 101 course ↗
  1. 1 What Is Claude AI, and Why It's More Than a Chatbot Claude is more than a chatbot. It is a thinking partner you talk to in plain English, and that changes what it can do for your business. 6 min read →
  2. 2 How to Talk to Claude Like a Coworker Most people order Claude around like a search box. Talk to it like a coworker instead, and give it three things in every prompt. 6 min read →
  3. 3 How to Get Better Results From Claude (Show It, Check It) Claude's first answer is a starting point. You make it good by showing it what you actually see, and checking what it hands back. 6 min read →
  4. 4 Claude Chat vs Cowork vs Code: Which One to Use Most people only use Chat. The Claude desktop app has three modes, and matching the mode to the job is where the real value is. 6 min read →
  5. 5 What Are Claude Projects (and When You Need One) A Claude Project keeps your context, your files, and your rules in one place, so you stop starting every chat from scratch. 6 min read →
  6. 6 What Are Claude Artifacts (and What to Build With Them) An Artifact is a real, usable thing Claude builds beside your chat, a document, a web page, or a small tool you can edit, download, or share. 6 min read →
  7. 7 What Are Claude Skills (and How to Make Your Own) A Skill teaches Claude to do a specific task the same way every time. You have already used them, and you can build your own just by talking to Claude. 6 min read →
  8. 8 What Are Claude Connectors (and How to Set Them Up) A connector gives Claude access to a tool you already use, so it can look things up and take action there instead of making you the copy-paste middleman. 6 min read →
  9. 9 What Is Claude's Research Mode (and When to Use It) Research mode turns one question into a full investigation: Claude plans, runs search after search, and hands you a report with sources you can check. 6 min read →
  10. 10 Claude Use Cases: One for Every Hat You Wear The official use-case list is organized by department. A solo business owner is every department, so here is one real Claude use case per hat you wear. 6 min read →
  11. 11 Where Else Can You Use Claude? Excel, Chrome, and Slack Claude also shows up inside the tools you already use: your spreadsheets, documents, inbox, browser, and team chat. Here is the current lineup, in plain English. 6 min read →
More lessons land here as I work through the course. See the full blog for everything else.