Claude 101

Claude is an AI assistant built by Anthropic. It can read, write, analyze, code, research, and work through tasks that take several steps.

Unlike a basic chatbot, Claude can:

• Work with your own files and documents
• Remember helpful context about you
• Connect to apps like Google Drive and Gmail
• Research a topic across many sources
• Build documents, slides, spreadsheets, and apps
• Run longer tasks using tools
• Write and run code through Claude Code
• Follow reusable workflows known as Skills

Use it on the web at claude.ai, in the desktop apps for macOS and Windows, or in the iOS and Android apps.

Free

$0. Chat, memory, Projects (up to five), Skills, and many connectors, with tighter usage limits.

Pro

$20/month, or $17/month when billed annually. Adds more usage, Claude Code, and extra features.

Max

Starts at $100/month for far higher usage.

Team

Starts at $20 per seat per month billed annually, with admin controls and sharing.

Enterprise

Adds advanced security, controls, and scale.

Start on Free. Upgrade once you hit limits on work that matters.

Claude Fable 5.1

The most capable public model from Anthropic, released September 1, 2026.

Claude Opus 5.5

The flagship for coding, agents, and complex work, released on September 22, 2026.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Quicker and cheaper to run, released on September 28, 2026.

Claude Haiku 4.5

The fastest and lowest-cost option.

Choose a model from the menu below the message box. Keep the default for most work and step up for harder problems.

In settings, tell Claude about yourself so every answer begins with context:

• Your role and industry
• What you rely on Claude for
• Your preferred tone
• Your formatting preferences
• Things Claude should always or never do

Short and specific beats long and vague.

Every strong prompt covers:

Goal

The result you want.

Context

Background Claude has no way to guess.

Input

The files, notes, or data to work from.

Format

The length, structure, and style of the answer.

Constraints

What to avoid and what to include.

Example:

I run a small bakery. Write three Instagram captions for our new sourdough. Keep the tone friendly and each caption under 40 words, use one emoji at most, and close each with a call to visit this weekend.

• “Make it shorter.”
• “Use plainer words.”
• “Give me three options.”
• “Explain your reasoning.”
• “What did you assume here?”
• “What is missing?”

Treat the first answer as a draft. Quality comes from the conversation that follows.

Memory has been available on every plan since March 2026. Claude can bring helpful context, like your projects and preferences, into future chats.

Check and edit what Claude remembers in settings. Delete anything you would rather not have stored.

A Project is a workspace with its own files and instructions. Create one for a client, a course, a book, or an area of your business.

• Upload the key documents
• Write clear project instructions
• Keep related chats in one place
• Reuse context without uploading again

On paid plans, retrieval can expand project knowledge by up to 10x. Team and Enterprise plans can share Projects across members.

Upload documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, images, and code, then ask Claude to:

• Summarize long documents
• Compare files
• Extract tables and data
• Analyze spreadsheets
• Read charts and screenshots
• Produce Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files

Switch on code execution and file creation in settings so Claude can build and edit files.

Connectors let Claude draw on information from your tools, such as:

• Gmail
• Google Drive
• Google Calendar
• Notion
• Microsoft 365
• Slack (paid plans)

Connect only the tools you need, and check what each connector can reach.

Research lets Claude search many sources and return a cited report.

Reach for it on market research, competitor analysis, technical comparisons, and any question that depends on current information.

Open the cited sources yourself for any claim that matters.

Skills are folders of instructions and scripts that teach Claude one specific workflow. Every plan includes them.

Anthropic ships Skills for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF tasks. Upload your own as a ZIP file under Customize, then Skills.

In September 2026, Anthropic launched Claude Docs and Claude Slides in beta and brought Claude Design into chat. All three are now out of beta, and every plan, Free included, can use them.

• Docs: living documents you edit together with Claude, exportable to Word or Google Docs
• Slides: presentations you can export to PowerPoint or PDF
• Design: prototypes, mockups, and one-pagers built from a prompt

They are rolling out to Pro and Max first, and other plans will follow.

Claude can now judge when a request needs several steps and keep working with tools, connectors, and files. In the desktop app, it can also work with local files you allow.

Give it a clear goal, the inputs it needs, and a definition of done.

Claude Code is the agentic coding tool from Anthropic for the terminal, IDEs, the desktop app, and the web. Every paid plan includes it.

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

Then run claude inside a project folder to begin.

Claude in Chrome, available on paid plans, lets Claude read web pages in your browser and act on them.

Review its actions on important sites, and never let it handle passwords or payments unless you are directly involved.

• Review your data and privacy settings
• Keep passwords and ID numbers out of chats
• Audit what each connector can access
• Edit or delete any memory you do not want
• Move company data to Team or Enterprise plans

Claude can still:

• Make factual mistakes
• Misread ambiguous requests
• Miss recent events when search is off
• Write code that contains bugs
• Sound confident while wrong

Verify the result whenever it matters.

Day 1

Fill in your profile and try five everyday tasks.

Day 2

Upload a long document and question Claude about it.

Day 3

Start a Project for one area of your work.

Day 4

Connect one app you open every day.

Day 5

Run your first Research question.

Day 6

Make a document or a slide deck.

Day 7

Turn your strongest workflow into a Skill.

Prompt 1

“Summarize this document as five bullet points and three action items.”

Prompt 2

“Rewrite this email so it is clearer and friendlier.”

Prompt 3

“Explain [topic] as if I am new to it, then quiz me.”

Prompt 4

“Compare these two options in a table with pros, cons, and your recommendation.”

Prompt 5

“Turn these notes into a plan that fits on one page.”

Prompt 6

“What should I ask before I decide this?”

Prompt 7

“Point out the weaknesses in this argument.”

Prompt 8

“Analyze this spreadsheet and name the three biggest trends.”

Prompt 9

“Write a first draft, then list what you were unsure about.”

Prompt 10

“Keep asking me questions until you have enough context to help.”