Claude Code – The terminal assistant that actually gets it
For a long time, I have been a bit of a skeptic when it came to AI coding assistants that live inside the IDE. While they are great for boilerplate and simple functions, I often found myself jumping back and forth between the chat window and my terminal to actually run tests, check logs, or handle deployments. It always felt like there was a missing link between the "thinking" and the "doing" in the development workflow.
But lately, I have been playing around with Claude Code, and I must say, it feels like a bit of a gamechanger for how we interact with our codebases.
What is it?
In its simplest form, Claude Code is a command-line interface (CLI) tool that brings Claude directly into your terminal. Unlike a standard LLM where you copy-paste snippets, this tool has direct access to your file system, can execute shell commands, and even run your test suites to verify its own work.
It is built to handle the "grunt work" that usually distracts us from the actual architecture and logic of our applications. Instead of manually hunting through a legacy codebase to find where a specific service is registered, you just ask, and it finds it.
The Power of Context
One of the things I love about moving toward a more "cloud native" or automated mindset is reducing the friction of repetitive tasks. Claude Code fits right into this. Because it lives in the terminal, it has the context of your entire project.
If you ask it to "Fix the failing unit tests in the Identity module," it doesn't just give you a guess. It:
- Lists the files.
- Identifies the test project.
- Runs
dotnet test(or your equivalent). - Reads the error output.
- Proposes and applies the fix.
It’s that "loop" of feedback that makes it feel different from just using a web-based chat. It reminds me of the shift from manual server configuration to using ARM templates or scripts—it’s about moving the abstraction layer up so we can focus on the bigger picture.
A Real-World "Gotcha"
Of course, no tool is perfect, and just like my experience with Azure Webjobs, there is usually a "gotcha" to be aware of. With Claude Code, the biggest hurdle is trust and cost. Because it can execute commands, you really need to keep an eye on what it’s doing—especially if you give it permission to run scripts that might alter your environment or delete resources.
Also, since it uses a lot of tokens to "read" your files and provide that deep context, the costs can add up if you aren't careful about how often you let it scan large directories. It’s always good to remember that while the tool is smart, there is still a developer (you) behind the keyboard who needs to manage the process properly.
Choosing the Right Tools
Ultimately, architecture is about choosing the right tools for the job. Whether it’s deciding between a system-managed identity or a user-assigned one in Azure, or deciding whether to use an AI assistant, the goal is to perform better and spend less time bridging technologies.
Claude Code isn't going to replace a developer's intuition, but for those of us who spend our lives in the terminal, it’s a very welcome addition to the toolbox. It makes the "inner loop" of development feel just a little bit more seamless.