reference · ask claude

still lost? ask Claude

Claude runs the workshop and teaches it. When something doesn't click, stop and ask Claude to explain.

first rule

don't push past confusion

The biggest mistake learners make is nodding along when something doesn't make sense, then losing the thread three steps later. Claude is right there in the conversation. Talk to it.

phrases

phrases that work well

You don't need a special command or a precise question. Plain English is the interface. A few that consistently get useful answers:

› Claude Code

› break down that code line by line

› explain that like I haven't seen it before

› why does this work this way?

› what would happen if I changed X to Y?

› show me what's in this file

› walk me through renaming X to Y before I do it

› I don't understand this part, can you explain it?

› what should I say next?

errors

when you hit an error

Paste the error back to Claude with one of these:

› Claude Code

› what does this mean?

› how do I fix this?

› is this a bug in my code or in the workshop?

Claude has the full lesson context loaded — the README, the source files, the previous output. It almost always has more to say about an error than a search engine will.

curiosity

when you want to go deeper

Workshops walk you through a single happy path. If you're curious past that, ask:

› Claude Code

› what would the next-level version of this look like?

› what tradeoffs am I making with this approach?

› how would you do this in production?

› what would break if I scaled this up?

pacing

slow down, then resume

If a step ran and you didn't actually read the output, say so:

› Claude Code

› hold on, walk me back through what that just did

› don't run anything yet, let me read that

Claude will pause and explain before continuing. There's no penalty for slowing down, and the workshop is faster overall when you don't have to backtrack.