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CCAR-F · Study Guide

← Build Exercises

Domain 3

Claude Code Configuration & Workflows

6 build exercises to practice the concepts in this domain.

3.1Beginner30 minutes

3.1 — Build a Multi-Level CLAUDE.md Configuration

What you will learn

  • User, project, and directory CLAUDE.md files all load. None of them replaces another.
  • How @ path imports split project standards into smaller files.
  • How .claude/rules/ holds a topic that should not live in the root file.
  • How /memory shows which instruction files actually loaded.
  • Why a new teammate misses instructions that live only in a personal file.
3.2Intermediate30 minutes

3.2 — Create Custom Commands and Skills

What you will learn

  • Project commands and skills live under .claude/ and are shared. Personal ones live under ~/.claude/.
  • SKILL.md frontmatter can set context: fork, allowed-tools, and argument-hint.
  • Conventions belong in CLAUDE.md. A repeatable workflow belongs in a skill or command.
  • How to check that a shared command is visible to the team and a personal one is not.
  • How context: fork keeps a long skill result out of the main conversation.
3.3Intermediate30 minutes

3.3 — Configure Path-Specific Rules with Glob Patterns

What you will learn

  • YAML frontmatter with a glob loads a rule only for matching paths.
  • The same rule can cover files that are spread across directories.
  • Path rules cost tokens only when they apply. A root CLAUDE.md costs them always.
  • Use a path rule when the convention follows a file pattern, and a directory CLAUDE.md when a whole folder shares one context.
  • How /context shows whether a rule loaded.
3.4Intermediate45 minutes

3.4 — Practice Plan Mode vs Direct Execution Decision-Making

What you will learn

  • Choose plan mode from how ambiguous the task is, not from a blanket rule.
  • Plan, then execute, for a migration that touches many files.
  • Use the Explore subagent so discovery output stays out of the main thread.
  • Name the complexity before the first edit, instead of discovering it mid-change.
  • A hard task can still be unambiguous. Ambiguity is what calls for a plan.
3.5Beginner30 minutes

3.5 — Practice Iterative Refinement Techniques

What you will learn

  • When interpretation drifts, add a concrete example before adding more prose.
  • A failing test is clearer feedback than a paragraph about what "better" means.
  • Interview an unfamiliar domain before you ask for the implementation.
  • Batch feedback when the issues are independent. Iterate one at a time when each fix changes the next.
  • Two or three examples are enough for the pattern to generalise.
3.6Advanced45 minutes

3.6 — Set Up a CI/CD Pipeline with Claude Code

What you will learn

  • claude -p is the non-interactive flag. Without it, CI waits for input.
  • --output-format json and --json-schema shape findings a script can parse.
  • Generation and review should not share a session.
  • An incremental review reports what is new or still open, not the whole history again.
  • CLAUDE.md is how a CI run learns the project's standards.