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Claude Code is Anthropic's CLI-based agentic coding tool that goes beyond chat-based AI assistance by autonomously reading project files, writing code, running shell commands, and iterating on errors without re-prompting. It operates through an Ask→Plan→Execute→Verify loop, shifting the developer's role from writer to reviewer. The post covers installation, authentication, configuration via CLAUDE.md and .claude/settings.json, prompt engineering best practices, and a real-world test refactoring a legacy Node.js callback-based module to async/await with tests. The verdict: best suited for intermediate-to-senior developers who can critically review AI output; excels at refactoring, boilerplate, and multi-file changes; struggles with domain-specific logic and large monorepos. Cost analysis and a practical implementation checklist are included.