Claude Code from Zero

Set up, drive and trust Claude Code on a real codebase.

recorded hours: 10.5
modules, in order: 8
deployed projects: 3
graded checkpoints: 7

Who it is for, and what you receive.

Software engineers in any language who want a daily Claude Code workflow they can defend, from install to a merged feature.

Before you start

You write software in any language.

Skills

Claude Code
code review
testing
MCP

1
The recorded sessions
Taught by an instructor who does the work, taken in order at your own pace, yours for twelve months.
2
Graded work after every module
Exercises and projects marked by Nova against a rubric you can read, with what you did well and what to fix.
3
The projects
Deployed and graded, each one on your record with its repository.
4
Your hiring plan
The same six-part plan the bootcamps use, run with the career agent.
5
The record and the certificate
Every grade at square1ai.com/u/{handle}; a credential ID that resolves at square1ai.com/verify.
6
Nova as your tutor
Help that is about your actual work, because it has read all of it.

The content plan, module by module.

10.5 recorded hours from an instructor, taken in order at your own pace. Nova grades the work at the end of each module.

1
Install, authenticate, first task
- Installing and signing in
- Permissions and what the agent may touch
- A first bounded task
- Reading the diff before you accept it
Graded
Your first shipped change, reviewed
60 min
2
CLAUDE.md and project context
- What belongs in project context
- Conventions, commands, gotchas
- Measuring whether it helped
Graded
A CLAUDE.md that makes the agent better
60 min
3
Plans, reviews and when to say no
- Asking for a plan first
- Reviewing multi-file changes
- Refusing and redirecting
Graded
A reviewed multi-file change
90 min
4
Tests as the contract
- Agent-written tests, human-owned assertions
- Test-first prompts
- Coverage as evidence
Graded
A feature with agent-written tests you edited
90 min
5
Hooks, skills and subagents
- Hooks that run on every edit
- Packaging a skill
- Delegating to a subagent
Graded
A hook that stops a bad change
90 min
6
MCP tools in the loop
- Connecting an MCP server
- Tools in a task
- Trust boundaries
Graded
An MCP server wired into a task
60 min
7
Worktrees and parallel work
- One task per worktree
- Merging safely
- What not to parallelise
Graded
Nothing to submit; watch and take notes
60 min
8
Project: a feature from issue to merge
- The issue
- The plan
- The build
- The review
- The merge
Graded
The feature, deployed, with your review log
120 min

The projects.

Each is deployed and graded by Nova against a rubric you can read before you start.

1
A reviewed feature
Ship a real feature to your own repository through Claude Code and explain every change.
You hand in
- Merged feature
- Review log
The rubric requires
Every change in the diff is explained in your own words.
2
A workflow on your repo
Add a hook and a skill that a teammate would keep.
You hand in
- Hook
- Skill
- Documentation
The rubric requires
The hook stops a seeded bad change.
3
A refactor with tests
Refactor code you did not write with tests added first.
You hand in
- Tests
- Refactor
- Coverage before and after
The rubric requires
Coverage rises and behaviour is unchanged.

What you can do at the end.

A daily Claude Code workflow you can defend, and three graded projects on your record that show it.

1
Install and authenticate Claude Code and ship a first change with a review log.
2
Write a CLAUDE.md that measurably improves the agent's work on your repository.
3
Drive multi-file changes through plans and reviews and know when to refuse.
4
Use tests as the contract for agent-written code.
5
Build hooks, skills and subagents that stop a bad change, and wire in MCP tools.
6
Run parallel work in worktrees and take a feature from issue to merge.

Roles this prepares you for

Software engineer (AI-assisted)
Tech lead

No placement rate is shown, because there are no graduates to count yet. The roles above are what the projects are built for.

Your record at the end.

Every exercise and project is graded by Nova against a rubric you can read, and every grade is kept on one page an employer can open and run. This is what the programme writes to it.

Graded, line by line: Nova reads every submission against the brief and the rubric and returns a score, what you did well and what to fix.
Module by module: Each module ends in graded work; the next opens when you are ready, on your own schedule.
Nova remembers: Help is about your actual work, because the tutor has every submission and every failed exercise of yours.
One page an employer can run: Every grade and project at /verify. An employer opens it and runs the code.

Record, Claude Code from Zero

Example

Project
A reviewed feature
Every change in the diff is explained in your own words.
Graded
Project
A workflow on your repo
The hook stops a seeded bad change.
Graded
Project
A refactor with tests
Coverage rises and behaviour is unchanged.
Graded
Every module
7 graded checkpoints
Each module ends in work Nova grades line by line against a rubric you can read.
Graded
After
Your hiring plan
Target roles, the gap map, the proof to send, weekly actions and an interview log.
Kept

The entries, not the grades: those are yours to earn. The page lives at /verify and an employer needs no account to open it.

5 entries, at your own pace. One email when this course opens.

How we help you find a job.

Proof, not a certificate: the projects you deployed are the thing you show, and the tools below are yours to use.

1
Your hiring plan
The same six-part plan the bootcamps use: target roles, the gap map, the proof to send, weekly actions, an interview log, the outcome. You run it with the career agent.
2
A record an employer can run
Your graded projects on /verify. An employer opens it and runs the code.
3
The career agent
Paste a real job posting at /career and it maps the role to your graded work and what to do next.
4
The roles directory
Every role we prepare people for, what it pays and what it asks, at /roles.
5
A path to the live cohort
If you want the instructor, the gates and the hiring sprint, the bootcamp on the same subject is one waitlist away.

One email when this course opens.

Recorded by an instructor who does this work, graded by Nova. The waitlist hears the date and the price first, and nothing is charged before it exists.