Onboarding Checklist

Complete these items to confirm you’re ready for daily Claude Code use.

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Setup

• Claude Code installed and running (claude --version)
• CLAUDE.md in your project root (customized for your stack)
• Skills installed globally (ls ~/.claude/skills/)
• Hooks installed and configured (ls ~/.claude/hooks/)
• ~/.claude/settings.json has hooks configured

First Session

• Ran /check-env successfully — no blocking issues
• Used /explain on at least one file in your project
• Fixed a bug or made a change with test verification
• Created a handoff with /handoff — reviewed SESSION_NOTES.md
• Used /context to check context usage

Skills Practiced

• /check-env — environment validation
• /test-first — wrote a test before implementation
• /code-review — reviewed your own changes
• /handoff — created a session summary
• /explain — got a code explanation

Concepts Understood

• One task per session (why multi-task sessions fail)
• Paste real errors (don’t describe, paste the stack trace)
• Scope-lock prompts (“Only modify src/auth/”)
• Verify with real tests (run them, don’t just inspect code)
• Context management (/compact at 50%, fresh session at 80%)
• Hooks run automatically (type checks, lint, secret detection)

Optional (Advanced)

• Tried /debug for a real bug
• Tried /refactor with zero behavior change
• Understand model routing (Haiku / Sonnet / Opus)
• Read the anti-patterns guide
• Bookmarked the workflow decision tree

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You’re ready. Start using Claude Code for real work. Refer back to the playbook docs when you need guidance.

Questions? Ask your team’s Claude Code champion, or open a discussion.