If You Installed Claude Code and Only Chat With It — You’re Missing the Point

You installed Claude Code. You type claude . A chat opens. You ask it to fix bugs and write tests. If that’s where you stopped, you’re using maybe 20% of it. Claude Code’s real power lives in three config files: CLAUDE.md , Hooks settings , and MCP server connections . Set these up and the experience completely changes. CLAUDE.md — Memory That Survives Sessions Claude Code forgets everything when a session ends. You taught it “always use the -v flag with pytest” yesterday? Gone. CLAUDE.md fixes this. Drop a CLAUDE.md file in your project root. Claude Code reads it automatically when a session starts. # Project Guide ## Dev Rules - Always run tests with `pytest tests/ -v` - Create backups before any DB operations - Commit messages use feat/fix/docs prefixes ## Tech Stack - Python 3.11, FastAPI, PostgreSQL - Frontend: Next.js 14 App Router Hooks — Automation That Never Forgets Hooks force shell commands to run at specific lifecycle points. { "hooks" : { "PostToolUse" : [ { "matcher" : "E