Claude: Zero to Hero
A complete, step-by-step learning track for Claude — from “I’ve never typed a prompt” to “I ship production agents.”
Built: August 2026 · Sources: live Anthropic docs (platform.claude.com/docs, code.claude.com/docs, support.claude.com)
How this track is organised
Eight numbered folders. Each folder is a stage. Each file inside is a module with the same shape:
- What you’ll learn — the outcome, in one line
- Concepts — the actual guide
- Try it — hands-on exercises you can do immediately
- Checkpoint — how you know you’ve got it
- Going deeper — links to the official docs for the details this guide compresses
Modules are numbered in the order you should do them. Nothing later assumes anything you haven’t already read.
learn-claude/
├── 00-start-here/ Orientation. What Claude is, where it lives, what plan you need.
├── 01-foundations/ Chat mastery. Prompting, models, files, artifacts, research.
├── 02-power-user/ No-code power. Projects, Skills, Connectors, Cowork, automation.
├── 03-claude-code/ Agentic coding. CLI, CLAUDE.md, subagents, hooks, MCP, plugins.
├── 04-api/ Building on Claude. Messages API, tools, caching, structured output.
├── 05-agents/ Agent engineering. Agent SDK, context engineering, multi-agent.
├── 06-production/ Shipping. Evals, guardrails, cost, observability, governance.
├── 07-capstones/ Five projects that prove you learned it.
└── 99-reference/ Cheat sheets, glossary, links. Come back to these forever.
Learning paths
You do not have to do all of it. Pick the path that matches where you’re going.
Path A — “I just want to use Claude really well” (~6 hours)
00-start-here → 01-foundations → 02-power-user → capstone 1 & 2
You’ll never touch code. You’ll end up better at Claude than most engineers.
Path B — “I want to code with Claude” (~15 hours)
Path A → 03-claude-code → capstone 3
Path C — “I want to build products on Claude” (~30 hours)
Path A (skim) → 03-claude-code → 04-api → 05-agents → 06-production → capstones 4 & 5
Path D — “I’m technical, skip the basics”
00-start-here/the-claude-landscape.md → 01-foundations/prompting-fundamentals.md → 01-foundations/models-and-modes.md → then jump to 03-claude-code or 04-api.
Full module index
00 · Start here
| # | Module | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 00 | How to use this track | Ground rules, how to practise |
| 01 | What Claude actually is | Mental model: LLM, context, tokens |
| 02 | The Claude landscape | Every surface, one map |
| 03 | Plans, pricing, and limits | What you need to buy, and when |
01 · Foundations — chat mastery
02 · Power user — no code required
| # | Module |
|---|---|
| 01 | Projects |
| 02 | Skills |
| 03 | Connectors and MCP, explained without code |
| 04 | Cowork |
| 05 | Claude inside your apps |
| 06 | Automation: scheduled tasks and routines |
| 07 | Plugins |
| 08 | Advanced prompting patterns |
03 · Claude Code — agentic coding
04 · API — building on Claude
05 · Agents
| # | Module |
|---|---|
| 01 | Agent design principles |
| 02 | The Claude Agent SDK |
| 03 | Context engineering |
| 04 | Multi-agent patterns |
| 05 | Managed Agents |
06 · Production
| # | Module |
|---|---|
| 01 | Evals and testing |
| 02 | Guardrails and safety |
| 03 | Cost and latency optimisation |
| 04 | Observability |
| 05 | Enterprise and governance |
07 · Capstones
Five projects, one per stage, each with a spec and a done-check.
99 · Reference
| File | Use |
|---|---|
| Glossary | Every term in one place |
| Model cheat sheet | Which model, when, what it costs |
| Prompting cheat sheet | Copy-paste patterns |
| Claude Code cheat sheet | Commands, flags, file layout |
| API cheat sheet | Request shapes and parameters |
| Official links | Where to check when this goes stale |
Three rules for getting through this
1. Do the exercises. Reading about prompting improves nothing. The gap between people who are good at Claude and people who aren’t is almost entirely reps.
2. Keep a scratch file. Every time a prompt works surprisingly well, paste it into a notes file. In two weeks that file is worth more than this track.
3. Assume this document is slightly out of date. Claude ships weekly. Every module ends with links to the live docs. When something here disagrees with the docs, the docs win — and the changelogs are listed in 99-reference/official-links.md.