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Bruno Ashford @brunoashfordSubscribeModule 3 · Lesson 3.1 · 10 min
How Claude Code Thinks and Acts
Understand the loop Claude Code runs (read, plan, act, check) so you know what it is doing and when it will ask you first.
Use ← → to move. The marker highlights text and the pencil draws on the slide; navigation locks while you annotate. Undo removes the last mark, Esc exits.
1Start Claude Code inside the right folder
Claude Code sees the folder you start it in and everything below it. Open your terminal, move into your Company folder from Module 2, and start it there. Starting in the wrong folder is the number one reason people get strange answers.
cd ~/Company
claude2Ask it to look before it does anything
Your first message should never be an order. Ask Claude to describe what it can see. You will watch it list and read files on its own, which is the agent behaviour you are paying for.
Look around this folder and tell me, in plain English, what kind of business files are here, what seems to be missing, and what you would need from me to help with sales reporting. Do not change anything yet.3Watch the permission prompts
When Claude wants to create or edit a file or run a command, it stops and asks. Read the prompt: it tells you exactly what it wants to do. Approve once, approve for the session, or say no and explain why. Saying no is not failure, it is management.
4Use plan mode when the stakes are higher
Press Shift+Tab to cycle through permission modes until you see plan mode. In plan mode Claude can read and think but cannot change anything. It writes you a plan, and nothing happens until you approve it. This is the safest way to start any task that touches real data.
5Ask it to show its work
An agent you cannot audit is an agent you cannot trust. Make it a habit to ask which files it read and how it got a number. Good work survives this question.
Before you continue: which files did you read, which ones did you ignore, and why?The first time I watched Claude Code open a folder of invoices, read twelve files, notice two were duplicates and ask me before deleting anything, I stopped thinking of it as a chatbot. A chatbot waits for you to paste things in. An agent goes and looks.
That is the whole shift. Claude Code works inside a folder on your computer. It can read files, search them, write new ones, edit existing ones and run commands, and it asks for your permission before anything that changes your files, unless you have told it otherwise. Once you understand that loop, you stop being nervous and start delegating.
Key points
- Claude Code works inside the folder you start it in.
- It reads, plans, acts and checks, and asks before changing files.
- Plan mode (Shift+Tab) lets it think without touching anything.
- Always ask which files it used and how it got the answer.
Avoid
- Starting Claude Code in your home folder and wondering why it is slow or confused.
- Approving every permission prompt without reading it.
- Opening with a big order instead of asking it to look first.
- Treating a clear answer as a correct answer without asking for the working.
Maria runs a two-chair dental clinic and exports her appointment book every month into a folder she never opens. She started Claude Code in that folder and asked it to look around before doing anything. It found 14 monthly exports, noticed March was missing, and pointed out that no-shows were recorded in two different ways. Nothing was changed, yet in five minutes she knew more about her own data than she had in a year.