Learn Claude in 5 minutes.
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Chat, Artifact, or Project?
Think out loud
Plain conversation: questions, explanations, edits on pasted text. With extended thinking turned on, Claude reasons step by step first, which is worth the wait on hard problems.
A live draft
Documents, code, and even small working apps open in a panel beside the chat. You iterate on the thing itself, version by version, instead of scrolling for the latest paste.
Standing context
A Project holds files and instructions that every conversation inside it can see. Set it up once for a client, a course, or a codebase, and stop re-explaining yourself.
What you will do in the lesson
- Feed it something long. You give Claude a document far too long to skim and practise asking questions that make it cite what the text actually says.
- Build in an Artifact. You ask for a draft as an Artifact, then revise it in place through several rounds without losing a version.
- Turn on extended thinking. You compare an instant answer with a reasoned one on the same problem, and learn which tasks deserve the slower mode.
- Set up Project-style context. You practise writing the instructions and picking the files a Project would carry, so every future chat starts warm.
- Push back on an answer. You disagree with Claude, on purpose, and watch how it separates what it knows from what it guessed.
Before you start
Does this lesson require a Claude account or download?
Neither. It runs inside this page, free. If you want to keep going afterwards, Claude has a free tier at claude.ai.
What is Claude actually best at?
Long documents, careful writing, and code are where users consistently rate it highest. A context window that fits hundreds of pages means whole contracts, theses, or codebases sit in one conversation.
Can Claude browse the web?
Yes, web search is built in, though Claude leans on it less than search-first tools do. For research where every claim needs a live citation, pair it with a search tool; for reading, reasoning, and writing, Claude is the strong half.
How does Claude compare with ChatGPT?
They are the two assistants most people cross-shop. ChatGPT has the bigger feature surface, like its GPT store and voice mode. Claude tends to win on long-document work, sustained writing quality, and following nuanced instructions. Many people keep both and route tasks.
