Five features account for most of what makes Claude Code powerful. Master all five and you will be ahead of the majority of users.
Most people install Claude Code and use it like a smarter terminal. That is useful. But the real power comes from five features that most users never fully set up. Master these five and you unlock the vast majority of what Claude Code can do.
CLAUDE.md is a markdown file at the root of any project. Claude reads it automatically at the start of every session.
This is your persistent context. Instead of re-explaining your project, clients, preferences, and rules every time, you write them once and they load automatically.
What to put in CLAUDE.md:
- What this project is for and how it is structured
- Your tech stack and folder layout
- Rules Claude must always follow (security gates, naming conventions, deployment checks)
- Key commands to run
- Anything you would otherwise paste at the start of each session
A strong CLAUDE.md eliminates the most common frustration with AI tools: repeating yourself.
Skills are markdown files that define repeatable workflows. You invoke them with a slash command like /code-review or /write-proposal.
Two types of skills:
Capability uplift skills -- improve what Claude does by default (better code reviews, stronger writing). These may become less necessary as base models improve.
Encoded preference skills -- define your specific sequential workflow for a task. These encode your process, not just AI capability, and remain valuable over time.
Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ and are available across all projects.
Hooks are shell commands that run automatically in response to Claude Code events.
Examples:
- Auto-format a file every time Claude edits it
- Run tests every time Claude changes code
- Send a Slack notification when a long task finishes
- Log every tool call for auditing
Hook types: PreToolUse (runs before), PostToolUse (runs after), Stop (runs at session end)
Hooks turn Claude Code from a reactive assistant into a proactive system that does things automatically without you asking.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets Claude Code connect to external tools and services.
With MCP servers, Claude Code can read your Notion database, post to Slack, create GitHub issues, query your database directly, or control your browser -- all within a single conversation.
MCP servers turn Claude Code from a local tool into a connected agent that operates across your entire stack.
Claude Code can spawn specialized sub-agents to work on tasks in parallel.
Instead of one session handling everything sequentially, you can have one agent doing research, one reviewing code, and one checking security -- all running simultaneously.
Subagents can be given specific models (Opus for complex reasoning, Haiku for fast checks) to optimize cost and speed.
CLAUDE.md -- loads context at session start
Skills -- define repeatable workflows you invoke
Hooks -- trigger automatic actions when things happen
MCP Servers -- connect Claude to external tools and services
Subagents -- parallelize work across specialized agents
Each feature builds on the others. A skill can call an MCP server. A hook can trigger a subagent. CLAUDE.md tells Claude how to use all of them.
Next lesson: Building complete websites with Claude Code -- from brief to deployed site in one session.
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