Everyone should be using Claude Code more

👋 Hey there, I’m Lenny. Each week, I tackle reader questions about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career. For more: Lennybot | Lenny’s Podcast | How I AI | Lenny’s Reads | Courses

Annual subscribers get a free year of 17 premium products: Devin, Lovable, Replit, Bolt, n8n, Wispr Flow, Descript, Linear, Gamma, Superhuman, Granola, Warp, Perplexity, Raycast, Magic Patterns, Mobbin, and ChatPRD (while supplies last). Subscribe now.

Ever since my chat with Dan Shipper, I couldn’t stop thinking about his hot take that Claude Code was the most underrated AI tool for non-technical people. A few weeks ago, I finally started playing around with it, and holy sh*t, we’ve all been sleeping on Claude Code.

The key is to forget that it’s called Claude Code and instead think of it as Claude Local or Claude Agent. It’s essentially a super-intelligent AI running locally, able to do stuff directly on your computer—from organizing your files and folders to enhancing image quality, brainstorming domain names, summarizing customer calls, creating Linear tickets, and, as you’ll see below, so much more.

Since it’s running locally, it can handle huge files, run much longer than the cloud-based Claude/ChatGPT/Gemini chatbots, and it’s fast and versatile. Claude Code is basically Claude with even more powers.

To inspire your own ideas, I’ve collected 50 of my favorite and most creative ways non-technical people are using Claude Code in their work and life. This list includes my own favorite use cases, and the best examples y’all shared with me on X and LinkedIn of how you use Claude Code.

A huge thank-you to the more than 500 of you who shared your stories. 🙏

But first, let’s install Claude Code on your computer

1. Open your Terminal app

   1. On a Mac, press Command (⌘) + Space, type “Terminal”, and hit Return

   2. In Windows, press Windows key + R, type “wt”, and press Enter

2. Install Claude Code

   1. On a Mac, run this command: curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

   2. In Windows, run this command: irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex

3. Launch Claude Code: claude

If you run into any trouble, just ask your favorite chatbot for help. Or better yet, install Warp (free with your newsletter subscription!), which replaces your local terminal app and automagically solves any issues you encounter trying to install stuff like Claude Code. That’s how I solved the problems I ran into, and I highly recommend you do the same.

Five ways I’ve been using Claude Code this month

1. Clearing space on my computer

Prompt: “How can I clear some storage on my computer?” I then discuss my options.

2. Improving the image quality of screenshots

Prompt: “Improve the image quality of [filename]”. I used this many times for the screenshots below.