Tools3 min read

How to set up Claude Code

Zero to building in under ten minutes. The accounts, the three plugins worth installing, and the one habit that saves your usage limits.

The no-BS startup guide. Zero to building in under ten minutes. Follow it top to bottom.

Step 1: Set up your account

Create an account at claude.ai, grab a Pro membership, and download the Claude Code desktop app.

Step 2: Open and sign in

Launch the desktop app, sign in, and navigate to Code.

Step 3: Install your plugins

These three cover most general build work: Superpowers for proven workflows, UI/UX Pro Max for design intelligence, and Karpathy's Guidelines for cleaner, less over-engineered code. Paste these into Claude Code one line at a time.

# Superpowers (official marketplace)
/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official

# UI/UX Pro Max
/plugin marketplace add cuteribs/vibe-marketplace
/plugin install ui-ux-pro-max@vibe-marketplace

# Karpathy's Guidelines
/plugin marketplace add forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills
/plugin install andrej-karpathy-skills@karpathy-skills

Run the marketplace add lines once per machine. If a trust prompt pops up, approve it before installing.

Step 4: Create your project

Make a new folder and open it in Claude Code.

Step 5: Build your CLAUDE.md

Describe your app or website idea to Claude. Let it ask a few questions to sharpen the concept, then have it write a CLAUDE.md into your folder. That file is the brain of your project. Claude reads it every session.

Step 6: Start building

Once the idea is locked in, tell Claude to go.

Pro tip: stay on Sonnet for the bulk of your work and save Opus for hard, multi-file problems. Run everything on Opus and you'll burn through your usage limits fast.

Need 1-on-1 help setting this up, or building any idea? Click the link in my bio and follow along for more.