AI software engineering means you describe the change you want, an AI agent writes and runs the code, and you review the result before it ships. Claude Code is one such agent that works inside your project folder. This guide takes you from install to your first reviewed change in six steps.
Steps from install to a reviewed change.
Share of tasks developers say they can fully hand to AI, per Anthropic's 2026 report.
Share of their work where developers say they use AI, per the same report.
Source: Anthropic: 2026 Agentic Coding Trends Report. These are developer self-reports, so treat them as a direction, not a measurement.
The second and third tiles matter most. AI does a lot of the typing, but you still own the decisions. That is why the steps below spend as much time on reviewing as on prompting.
What do you need before you start?
- A computer with a terminal (Windows, Mac or Linux).
- A small project to practise on. A copy of a simple website or script is ideal. Do not start on code you cannot afford to break.
- A Claude account that includes Claude Code. Check Anthropic's Claude Code docs for the current plans and install command, because both change.
- Git installed, so every change the agent makes can be undone.
Step 1: How do you install Claude Code?
Follow the install command in the official docs. At the time of writing, the npm route looks like this:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Then run claude inside your project folder and sign in when asked.
Step 2: How do you open it in a project?
Open your terminal in the project folder, type claude and press Enter. Claude Code now reads the files in that folder, so it can answer questions about your actual code.
Step 3: How do you give it a good first task?
Start with a small, clear request and say what done looks like. Compare these two:
- Weak: "Improve my website."
- Better: "On the contact page, add a phone number field to the form and make it required. Do not change any other page."
The second one has a place, a change and a boundary. Ask Claude Code to explain its plan before it edits anything, then approve it.
Step 4: How do you review what it changed?
This is the step beginners skip, and the one that matters most. Before accepting anything, read the list of changed files and the diff. Ask yourself two things: did it only touch what I asked for, and do I understand each change? If not, ask Claude Code to explain it in plain words.
Step 5: How do you check that it works?
Run the project and try the change yourself. If the project has tests, ask Claude Code to run them and show you the result. If it has none, open the page and test the feature by hand, including a wrong input such as an empty field.
Step 6: How do you save and undo changes safely?
Commit working changes with Git so you always have a restore point. If a change goes wrong, you can roll back to the last commit instead of untangling it by hand.
What should you do next?
Repeat the loop on bigger tasks: plan, change, review, test, commit. Once that feels natural, look at skills and MCP connections, which let Claude Code use extra tools. A good example is the Remotion skill, which lets you make videos from a text prompt. Our guide on AI software development for Jaipur startups shows how this fits into real client work.
If you would rather have it built for you, see our pricing or book a call. If you want to learn the full workflow yourself, the Autopilot Studio course covers it.
