Beginner Platform Guide Claude ClaudeClaude ProClaude Code
How to Use Claude: Anthropic's AI Assistant for Thoughtful Work
Master Anthropic's Claude for long-form writing, document analysis, coding, and nuanced reasoning. From your first conversation to Projects and extended thinking.
AI Snapshot
- ✓ Create an account at claude.ai and set up your profile with role, preferences, and output style to personalise every response
- ✓ Build Projects for each client or workstream with custom instructions and reference documents for persistent, contextual AI assistance
- ✓ Use Artifacts to generate interactive documents, code, and visualisations that you can iterate on in a dedicated side panel
- ✓ Enable extended thinking on complex tasks to get step-by-step reasoning with dramatically better results for analysis and coding
- ✓ Explore Claude Code for AI-powered development directly in your terminal, with full codebase understanding
**Claude** by Anthropic has quickly become the preferred AI assistant for professionals who need thoughtful, nuanced, and accurate responses. Known for its strong reasoning, careful handling of complex instructions, and ability to work with very long documents, Claude is particularly well-suited to knowledge work — writing, analysis, research, and coding.
**[Open Claude →](https://claude.ai)**
Browse more prompts for Claude in our [Prompt Library](/prompts).
Why This Matters
Claude has established itself as the preferred AI for professionals who care about writing quality, nuanced reasoning, and safe handling of sensitive content. Built by Anthropic with a focus on being helpful, harmless, and honest, Claude consistently outperforms competitors on long-form writing, document analysis, and tasks requiring careful judgement.
What sets Claude apart isn't just capability but character. It's less likely to hallucinate confidently, more willing to say 'I don't know', and noticeably better at following complex multi-step instructions. Its 200,000 token context window means you can upload entire books, codebases, or research libraries and work with them in a single conversation.
Visit claude.ai to start using Claude today.
What sets Claude apart isn't just capability but character. It's less likely to hallucinate confidently, more willing to say 'I don't know', and noticeably better at following complex multi-step instructions. Its 200,000 token context window means you can upload entire books, codebases, or research libraries and work with them in a single conversation.
Visit claude.ai to start using Claude today.
How to Do It
1
Go to claude.ai and sign up with your email or Google account. The free tier gives you access to Claude Sonnet with daily message limits.
2
Click Projects in the sidebar and create one for your current work. Add custom instructions (your role, preferences, output style) and upload any reference files that should persist across conversations.
3
Click the paperclip icon to attach files. Claude handles PDFs, code files, images, CSVs, and more. With a 200K token context window, you can upload documents that other AI tools can't process.
4
Be direct and structured. Tell Claude its role, the task, the format, and any constraints. Example: 'You are an editor. Review this draft for clarity, conciseness, and logical flow. Be critical but constructive. Suggest specific rewrites, don't just flag issues.'
5
For complex tasks, toggle on extended thinking (the brain icon). Claude will show its reasoning process before answering, producing significantly better results for analysis, coding, and multi-step problems.
6
Build on Claude's responses within the same conversation. Say 'Now rewrite section 2 to be more concise' or 'Apply that same analysis to the second document'. Context compounds across messages.
Prompt Templates
I'm uploading [DOCUMENT TYPE]. Please: 1) Provide a 3-paragraph executive summary highlighting the most important findings 2) Identify the 5 strongest arguments and 3 weakest points 3) Flag any claims that lack supporting evidence 4) Suggest 3 follow-up questions I should investigate Be direct and opinionated. Don't hedge unnecessarily.
Write a [CONTENT TYPE] about [TOPIC] for [AUDIENCE]. Requirements: - Length: approximately [X] words - Tone: [professional/conversational/academic] - Include specific examples and avoid generic advice - Use British English with contractions - Structure with clear headings but keep it readable, not listy Don't start with 'In today's world' or any cliched opening. Jump straight into value.
Review this code and: 1) Identify bugs, edge cases, and potential security issues 2) Suggest performance improvements with explanations 3) Refactor for readability while preserving functionality 4) Add TypeScript types if missing Explain your reasoning for each change. If something is fine as-is, say so rather than suggesting changes for the sake of it. ``` [PASTE YOUR CODE] ```
Analysis
I'm uploading [document type]. Please use extended thinking to: 1. Identify the 3 most significant insights or implications 2. Note any logical inconsistencies or unsupported claims 3. Compare the key arguments against current market consensus 4. Suggest 5 follow-up questions this document raises Provide your analysis in a structured format with confidence levels for each finding.
Writing
I need a [length] [content type] about [topic] for [audience]. Here's my style guide: [paste or reference Project docs]. Structure: [outline or let Claude suggest] Tone: [specific descriptors] Key messages: [list 3-5] Please create this as an Artifact so I can iterate on specific sections. Start with the full draft, then I'll provide section-by-section feedback.
Code
Review the following code for: 1) Bugs or edge cases, 2) Performance issues, 3) Security vulnerabilities, 4) Code style and readability. Use extended thinking to reason through the logic flow. For each issue found, explain WHY it's a problem and provide the corrected code. Rate overall code quality 1-10 with justification.
Common Mistakes
⚠ Not using Projects
⚠ Ignoring the system prompt
⚠ Wasting the context window
⚠ Being too polite in prompts
⚠ Not using extended thinking
Recommended Tools
Claude Pro
Priority access to Claude's most capable models, extended thinking, and significantly higher usage limits for US$20/month
Projects
Persistent workspaces with custom instructions, uploaded knowledge files, and conversation history that carries context across sessions
Claude API
Programmatic access for developers, with support for tool use, function calling, and batch processing
Claude for Enterprise
Team deployment with admin controls, SSO, extended context windows, and no training on your data
FAQ
What's the difference between Claude's free and paid tiers?
The free tier gives you Claude Sonnet with daily message limits, whilst Claude Pro (US$20/month) offers 5x more usage, priority access during peak times, and early access to new features. Pro subscribers also get access to Claude Opus for the most demanding tasks requiring maximum reasoning capability.
Can Claude access the internet or real-time data?
No, Claude cannot browse the internet or access real-time information. Its training data has a knowledge cutoff, so you'll need to provide current data through file uploads or by copying and pasting relevant information into your conversations.
How does Claude's 200K token context window work in practice?
This massive context window means you can upload entire books, research papers, or codebases and reference them throughout your conversation. One token roughly equals 0.75 words, so 200K tokens can handle approximately 150,000 words of text in a single session.
Is Claude suitable for handling confidential business documents?
Anthropic states that conversations are not used to train Claude, and they have strong privacy commitments. However, for highly sensitive data, consider using Claude through enterprise partnerships or avoiding uploading confidential information until you've reviewed Anthropic's current privacy policies.
Can I use Claude for coding in Asian languages or markets?
Yes, Claude handles multilingual coding well, including comments and documentation in languages like Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean. It can also help localise applications for Asian markets, though you should verify market-specific requirements independently.
How does Claude compare to ChatGPT?
Both are excellent, but they have different strengths. Claude tends to produce more nuanced, well-structured writing and excels at long-context tasks (200K tokens vs ChatGPT's 128K). ChatGPT has a larger ecosystem of plugins and GPTs, stronger image generation with DALL-E, and more third-party integrations. Many professionals use both, choosing based on the task at hand.
What is Claude's context window and why does it matter?
Claude can process up to 200,000 tokens in a single conversation - roughly equivalent to a 500-page book. This means you can upload entire codebases, lengthy reports, or multiple documents and Claude can reason across all of them simultaneously. This is particularly valuable for legal review, research synthesis, and code analysis where context across multiple files matters.
Is Claude suitable for business and enterprise use?
Yes. Anthropic offers Claude Team plans with centralised billing and admin controls, and Enterprise plans with SSO, audit logs, and custom data retention policies. Claude does not train on your conversations by default. Many companies across Asia-Pacific use Claude for writing, analysis, coding, and customer-facing applications via the API.
Next Steps
Set up your first Project with custom instructions for your most common type of work. Upload your style guide or brand guidelines as Project knowledge. Try extended thinking on a complex analysis task to see the quality difference. Explore Claude Code if you're a developer.