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Why (and how) to use Claude Code

(or how I learned to stop spending credits on Lovable+co and love the terminal)

Max Tatton-Brown

• 2 min read
Why (and how) to use Claude Code

If you're loving Lovable/Bolt/V0/Replit and co – you owe it to yourself to dump them for Claude Code.

Here's my three reasons why:

1. Credits are an INSANE way to pay for coding.

When you use a tool that profits from you having to painstakingly unwind mistakes, the interests are not aligned. Claude Code is available almost unlimited (with Claude Max) for £75 a month.

2. It's the same thing

They all have a chat agent + hosting for code/ database/ website. Using Claude Code splits this out – you talk to it in terminal (no different to chat) and for the other bits you just ask it to tell you the settings. It's not as hard as you think, especially with an AI guide.

3. You can still use the best bits

I use the cheap bundles of these tools to quickly try ideas and see what they'll build quickly. Then if I want to move forward, we go to Claude Code. That's their truest value.

(BONUS 4) DO IT YOUR WAY

Every folder in Claude can contain a file that keeps it on track. At the very top level, you have one where you can tell it explicitly how to work (NEVER REBUILD COMPONENTS FROM SCRATCH), and for feature folders you can tell it how the feature should work. Or how you want commits written or pull requests or what you're building or etc etc etc.

If you want advice about how to get there, I'll happily guide you – just send me a message.

I think we are living in a time where almost anybody can build almost anything – but it only *starts* with the simplest AI builders. To go further, you have to take a little leap...

So here's how you get started.

  1. Install GitHub desktop: and clone your project locally.
  2. Install Node.js.
# Download and install nvm:
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash

# in lieu of restarting the shell
\. "$HOME/.nvm/nvm.sh"

# Download and install Node.js:
nvm install 22

# Verify the Node.js version:
node -v # Should print "v22.16.0".
nvm current # Should print "v22.16.0".

# Verify npm version:
npm -v # Should print "10.9.2".
  1. Install node in your project
npm install
  1. Install Claude Code:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code