Getting Started with Claude
Create a free account, send your first message, and pick up a few habits that improve replies from the start.
What you need
- A modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge)
- An email address or Google account for sign-up
- No credit card — the free tier is enough for this lesson
Your first chat
Go to claude.ai and create your account
Open claude.ai and choose Sign up. Google sign-in or email both work; setup takes about a minute.
Welcome to Claude
Sign in to continue
No account? Sign up for free
Start a new conversation
After login you will see the home screen with a text box in the centre and recent chats in the sidebar. Click the box — it shows Message Claude… — and type your question.
Choose your model (optional)
Above the text box is a model selector. For most tasks, leave it on Claude Sonnet. You can switch to Haiku for quick drafts or Opus for harder analysis later.
Send your first message
Type a question and press Enter or click the send button. Claude usually replies within a few seconds.
Three prompts that work well on a first try:
- “Explain machine learning in simple words”
- “Write a short welcome email for a new employee”
- “What are five things I can use you for?”
Read the reply and follow up
Claude's answer appears below your message. Ask for a shorter version, a different tone, or a new topic in the same chat — no need to start over unless you want a clean thread.
Machine learning is teaching a computer from examples instead of writing a rule for every case.
Show it thousands of labelled photos — cat or dog — and it learns to tell them apart on new images it has never seen.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Send message | Enter | Return |
| New line in message | Shift + Enter | Shift + Return |
| New chat | Ctrl + Shift + O | ⌘ + Shift + O |
| Copy reply | Copy icon on message | Copy icon on message |
| Regenerate reply | Regenerate icon | Regenerate icon |
Prompt habits that help
Clear input tends to produce clearer output. A few patterns worth using from day one:
| Habit | Instead of… | Try… |
|---|---|---|
| Be specific | “Write something about marketing.” | “Write a 150-word Instagram caption for a coffee shop opening in Mumbai.” |
| State your context | “Explain compound interest.” | “I am in high school. Explain compound interest with one simple numeric example.” |
| Ask for a format | “Give me birthday party ideas.” | “List five birthday party ideas as bullets, for a 10-year-old.” |
| Revise in place | “(start a new chat)” | “That is too technical. Explain it more simply, as if I am 12.” |
| Paste your source | “Summarise an article about climate change.” | “Here is the article: [paste text]. Summarise it in three bullet points.” |
Before you continue
- Sign up at claude.ai with email or Google — no payment required.
- Default to Sonnet unless you have a reason to switch.
- Follow up in the same chat to refine tone, length, or detail.
- Next lesson: what you need (and do not need) before going deeper.
What's Next
What you need before the rest of the course — almost nothing beyond a browser and account.