FREE & OPEN SOURCE COURSE

Claude Code:
From Zero to Mastery

A practical, jargon-free course for researchers, economists, and social scientists who want to use AI to supercharge their work — from data cleaning to writing papers. No prior programming experience needed.

▶ Start Learning See all modules
14
Modules
70+
Exercises
4
Languages covered
Free
Always

Who is this course for?

You don't need to be a programmer. If you use Stata, R, Python, or LaTeX — or even just Excel and Word — this course will meet you where you are and take you further than you thought possible.

🌾

Development Economists

Clean messy survey data, run regressions, write up results — faster.

📊

Social Scientists

Automate repetitive analysis tasks and write better code from scratch.

🎓

Graduate Students

Tackle ambitious research projects without knowing every tool perfectly.

🌍

Researchers in LMICs

Access world-class AI assistance regardless of institutional resources.

📝

Policy Analysts

Turn data into reports, memos, and visualisations more efficiently.

💻

Research Assistants

Become indispensable by mastering AI-assisted research workflows.

Course Modules

Work through them in order, or jump to what you need. Each module has exercises and real research examples.

Module 0
🗺️

What is Claude Code?

Understand what Claude Code is, why it's different from chatting with Claude on the web, and why it matters for your research.

~20 min Beginner
Module 1
⚙️

Installation & Setup

Install Claude Code on Mac, Windows (with WSL), or Linux. Set up your API key. Get Claude Code running in under 10 minutes.

~30 min Beginner
Module 2
🚀

Your First Session

Start Claude Code, give it a task, navigate the interface, understand how to have a productive conversation with your AI assistant.

~25 min Beginner
Module 3
📋

CLAUDE.md — Teaching Claude Your Project

Create a CLAUDE.md file that gives Claude permanent context about your project. The single biggest productivity lever in Claude Code.

~35 min Beginner
Module 4
🔬

Research Workflows: Data & Analysis

Use Claude Code to clean messy datasets, write analysis scripts in Stata/R/Python, spot errors, and generate tables automatically.

~50 min Intermediate
Module 5
✍️

Writing, Papers & LaTeX

Draft paper sections, convert output tables to LaTeX, manage references, fix LaTeX errors, and improve academic writing.

~45 min Intermediate
Module 6
⚡

Slash Commands & Skills

Use built-in shortcuts like /commit and /help. Create your own custom slash commands (skills) to automate your most common tasks.

~40 min Intermediate
Module 7
🤖

Hooks — Automating Your Workflow

Set up hooks that automatically run actions when Claude saves a file, stops working, or starts a session. True automation.

~45 min Intermediate
Module 8
🔌

MCP — Connecting Claude to the World

Use the Model Context Protocol to connect Claude to databases, the web, GitHub, Zotero, and other tools in your research stack.

~50 min Intermediate
Module 9
🏗️

Multi-file Projects & Codebases

Navigate large research projects with many files. Use Claude Code to understand, refactor, and extend existing codebases you inherited.

~45 min Advanced
Module 10
🛠️

Building Tools & Apps with Claude

Build custom research tools: data dashboards, survey apps, literature scrapers, and automation scripts — even if you've never built an app before.

~60 min Advanced
Module 11
👥

Team Research & Collaboration

Share Claude Code setups with your lab, standardize workflows across a team, and use Git + Claude Code for reproducible research.

~40 min Advanced
Module 12
🧠

Advanced: Agents & API Integration

Build multi-step AI pipelines, call the Claude API directly, and create autonomous agents for complex research tasks.

~60 min Advanced
Module 13
🏆

Mastery, Ethics & Best Practices

Responsible AI use in research, academic integrity, security, cost management, and how to keep learning as Claude Code evolves.

~35 min Advanced
Reference
📖

Jargon Library & Glossary

Plain-English definitions for every technical term used in this course. Hover over dotted words in any module to see instant definitions.

Reference

Built on Real-World Workflows

This course draws from leading economists, developers, and researchers who use Claude Code daily.

🧑‍🏫 Chris Blattman 📈 Pedro Sant'Anna 📰 GenAI for Econ ⭐ Awesome Econ AI 💡 Boris Tane 🔬 Simon Willison 🎵 Mixtape Tools 📚 Guide to EconRA 🏛️ AEI AI Tools 📄 Official Docs 🔎 AI Review Skills 📊 Results DB ⚗️ Feynman Agent