Claude Guide
Everything you need to know to use Anthropic's assistant effectively.
I just want to generate a prompt, skip ↓What is Claude?
Claude is the chat assistant from Anthropic, a company focused on AI safety. It's named after Claude Shannon, a pioneer of information theory. It's trained using an approach called "Constitutional AI", where the model checks its own output against a set of predefined principles.
Available at claude.ai (web), and desktop and mobile apps. Particularly favored for long-document analysis, coding, and structured writing.
model family
Strengths and Weaknesses
strengths
- Large context window — handles long documents/codebases without losing track
- Consistent at coding and structured tasks
- Artifacts let you edit content like code/drafts/tables in a separate pane
- Safety-focused approach builds trust in enterprise settings
weaknesses
- Free plan becomes completely unusable once you hit the daily limit
- Can't generate images/video — analysis only
- Can be cautious and decline some borderline requests
- Smaller third-party plugin ecosystem than ChatGPT
How to Use It More Efficiently
Claude is good at following an example you give it. See how the same request produces different results below, weak vs. strong.
Scenario 1 — Contract review
zayıf
"Review this contract."
→ A generic summary, unclear which clauses are risky.
güçlü
"Review this lease agreement, list clauses that could be risky for the tenant by clause number, with a short explanation for each."
→ A clause-numbered, actionable risk list.
Scenario 2 — Code review
zayıf
"Check this code."
→ A shallow 'looks fine' comment.
güçlü
"List the security vulnerabilities and performance issues in this Python file separately, suggest a fix for each."
→ A concrete list, split by category, with suggested fixes.
Scenario 3 — Long report summary
zayıf
"Summarize this report."
→ A generic-length, not very useful summary.
güçlü
"Condense this 40-page report into a 5-point action list for the board, one sentence per point."
→ A tight, presentation-ready 5-point list.
bonus tip — artifacts
When you ask for code, a long draft, or a table, Claude automatically opens it in Artifacts — you can edit and copy it without cluttering the chat.
What to Watch Out For
Plan around the free limit
On the free plan, hitting the daily message limit locks the chat entirely. Factor this in if you're mid-task.
It can't generate images/video
Claude is text/code/analysis-focused. For image or video generation, you'll need a different AI.
Be ready for declined requests
Due to its safety approach, borderline requests may be handled cautiously — clarifying your request usually resolves it.
Customizing Its Behavior
You can permanently adjust Claude's tone and style using Styles and account preferences.
how to set it up
- On claude.ai, click your profile (top right) → "Settings"
- Go to "Profile" or "Preferences"
- Write your preferences (tone, format, things to watch for)
- You can also switch tone on the fly with "Styles" in the chat screen
example instruction
"Don't open with unnecessary praise. When evaluating an idea of mine, state the risks and gaps first, then suggest a fix."
Common Mistakes
Turning to Claude for image/video generation — that needs a different AI.
Starting a critical task right as you near the free plan's daily limit.
Writing a vague prompt and being surprised it didn't give an example — you need to ask for one.
Asking for a huge piece of content in one go instead of going draft-first, then detail.
Retrying a declined request as-is — clarifying or adding context usually works.
Quick Summary
08 — try it now
Generate a prompt for Claude Sonnet
Briefly describe what you want to do — we'll optimize it for you.