My Experience with Claude Code: From Pair to Peer Programming

LLM providers are making interesting moves into the developer tools space. After OpenAI's acquisition of Windsurf and Anthropic's release of Claude Code, it's clear they're not just shipping models anymore - they're building complete developer experiences.

I've used both Cursor and Windsurf extensively, but Claude Code feels different. When an LLM provider builds their own coding assistant, they can optimize the entire stack without worrying about API costs or context limitations. The result? A tool that actually delivers on Satya Nadella's vision of elevating coding assistants from pair to peer programmers.

What Makes Claude Code Stand Out

Claude Code was the first assistant that could build features end-to-end with minimal setup. Here's what I've learned from using it:

Planning is everything. I start most sessions in plan mode to create precise action plans before any code gets written.

Documentation as memory. I maintain a main claude.md file with PRD, architecture principles, and project goals. Each project also gets its own lean claude.md file - they act as memory banks that help the agent remember crucial architectural decisions.

Extended thinking works. When Claude Code gets stuck, phrases like "think deeper" or "think more thoroughly" trigger better reasoning and more thoughtful solutions.

Git worktrees are your friend. Since requests can take several minutes, working on multiple features in parallel makes sense. Don't just sit and wait.

Reset liberally. Clearing context and resetting changes helps more than you'd expect. Don't be afraid to start fresh.

The IDE-Agnostic Advantage

What I love most is that it's IDE-agnostic. In my team, developers use different tools - JetBrains IDEs, Visual Studio, VSCode, Cursor. Making everyone switch to one IDE is unreasonable when they're already productive with their chosen tools.

Claude Code solves this perfectly. I'm already seeing massive performance improvements with our smaller dev groups and planning to roll it out further.

Next goal: Wire it up with Azure DevOps so I can tell Claude Code to "start working on user story #ID."

The gap between AI coding assistants and human developers is shrinking fast. Tools like Claude Code aren't just helping us code faster - they're changing how we think about collaboration between humans and AI in software development.

What's your experience with AI coding assistants? Are you seeing similar productivity gains in your team?