25 Ways to Use Claude (90% People Know Only 3)
Most people use Claude like a search engine with better grammar.
They type a question.
They get an answer.
They copied it somewhere.
They close the tab.
That’s not using Claude.
That’s using 5% of it.
I spent the last month mapping every mode, feature, and workflow Claude actually supports - and there are 25 of them.
You’re the reason this newsletter exists. What AI tool or workflow should I test next? Drop your topic in the comments - the most-requested one becomes the next issue.
Eight months ago, I was paying $20/month for Claude Pro.
I used it to rewrite LinkedIn posts and fix grammar. That’s it.
Then one afternoon, I got frustrated with a newsletter draft that wasn’t working. I’d rewritten the opening four times. It still felt flat.
I didn’t ask Claude to fix it. I asked Claude to tell me why it wasn’t working.
It diagnosed the problem in 11 seconds. Weak hook. No gift promise.
The reader had no reason to keep reading past paragraph two.
Sound familiar?
That conversation changed how I use Claude. Not as a writing tool.
As a thinking partner. I started testing every feature I’d ignored.
Extended Thinking. Projects. Memory. Skills. Higgsfield. Obsidian MCP.
What I found: most people are using Claude like a calculator when it’s actually a studio.
This issue is everything I found. All 25 modes. Honest about what works.
Honest about what doesn’t. Let’s go.
Here’s what changes after you read this:
Before: You open Claude, type a question, get an answer, and close the tab. You’re a user.
After: You know which of the 25 modes fits which problem. You stop starting from scratch. You stop re-explaining yourself every session. You stop leaving 80% of what you’re paying for unused. You become an operator. User → Operator.
That’s the shift this issue makes.
The 25 Ways - Grouped by What They Do For You
I’ve grouped these into 5 categories:
Think
Create
Build
Connect
Automate.
That’s how your brain should file them.
The gap isn’t intelligence. It’s not knowing what to ask for.
Claude can do 25 things. You’ve been asking for 3.
THINK - Claude as Your Reasoning Partner
1. THINK: Extended Thinking
Turn this on when the problem is hard.
Claude actually reasons step by step before answering - not just generating a confident-sounding response.
I use this for contract analysis, strategic decisions, and anything where being wrong costs me time.
Quick setup:
Start a new conversation
Click on the Model Selection button.
Then, click on Efforts.
Turn on the extended thinking toggle before sending.
Give it a complex problem - not “write me an email”
The output looks the same. The reasoning underneath it isn’t.
2. RESEARCH: Deep Research
Claude builds a research brief on any topic - with sources, structured sections, and a clear conclusion. I used this to map the AI newsletter landscape before I started posting. Saved me 4 hours.
Quick setup:
Ask: “Do deep research on [topic] and give me a structured report with sources”
Turn on web search in settings first (Click on “+” icon and then select Web Search)
Let it run - this takes 2–3 minutes
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3. ANALYSE: Document Upload
Upload a PDF, a contract, a report - anything. Ask Claude questions about it. I do this with every tool pricing page I’m comparing. Paste the PDF, ask “what am I paying for and what’s missing.”
Quick setup:
Click the “+” icon
Upload any PDF or document
Ask specific questions - not “summarise this”
Quick check - how many of those first 3 have you actually used?
If the answer is zero, you’re already
3x more capable than you were 5 minutes ago.
Keep going. It gets better.
CREATE - Claude as Your Content Engine
4. WRITE: Long Form Drafts
Full newsletter issues. Blog posts. Case studies. Give Claude a detailed brief - not a vague topic - and it drafts the whole thing. I use Projects for this, so it remembers my voice and past issues.
Quick setup:
Open or create a Project
Add your style guide as a document in the Project
Brief with: angle, audience, goal, key points, word count
The brief is the product. A weak brief gives you a weak draft - every time.
5. PROMPT: Prompt Builder
Ask Claude to write their own prompt for a task. Tell it the outcome you want and ask it to generate the best prompt to get there. Meta - but it works. I built 12 newsletter prompts this way in an afternoon.
Quick setup:
Say: “I need a prompt that does [X]. Write the best prompt for this.”
Ask it to explain why each line matters
Test the prompt immediately in a new chat
6. DESIGN: Claude Design
Generate images directly inside Claude. I use this for quick visual concepts - not final assets. It’s not Midjourney. But for wireframes, mood boards, and “roughly like this” visuals, it’s fast.
Quick setup:
Describe what you need - style, content, purpose
Iterate with “make it more [X]” follow-ups
Read full step-by-step guide here👇
How to use Claude Design like Anthropic Engineer.
I tested it end-to-end. Here’s the complete playbook, with every limit, every condition, and every mistake included.
7. PRESENT: Slides in Claude
Ask Claude to build a slide deck outline - or a full HTML presentation. I haven’t replaced Canva with this, but for internal decks and first drafts, it gets me 80% of the way in 5 minutes.
Quick setup:
Go to claude.ai → Claude Design (separate from regular chat)
Click “Create new presentation”
Paste your prompt - Claude will ask a few clarifying questions first, then build
8. TRANSLATE: Document Digest
Upload a document in any language and ask Claude to translate and summarise it. I used this on a Spanish AI report last month. Full English summary in 90 seconds. Accurate. Readable.
Quick setup:
Upload the document by clicking on the “+” icon.
Say: “Translate this and give me a 5-bullet summary of the key points”
Follow up with specific questions in English
If this is useful, share it with one person who needs it. It takes 10 seconds and costs nothing.
Quick note before Next section:
You don’t need to be a developer to get value from the next 4 items.
Item 10 needs zero code.
Item 11 needs zero code.
Item 12 needs zero code.
Item 9 needs one command.
I’ll show you exactly what to type.
Stay with me.
BUILD - Claude as Your Developer
9. CODE: Claude Code
This is the terminal-based Claude that writes, runs, and fixes code in your actual project. Not a chat assistant that generates code snippets. It operates in your codebase. I used it to build a full content tracking dashboard - no developer needed.
Quick setup:
Install Claude Code via npm: curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
Open your project folder in the terminal
Type
claudeand give it a task
Read the full guide here👇
Vibe Coding The Complete Claude's Beginner Guide 2026
What if you could build a tool your audience actually wants - in under an hour - without touching a single line of code?
In your actual codebase - that’s the phrase that matters. This isn’t a code suggestion tool. It’s an autonomous developer.
10. REVIEW: Code Review
Paste any code and ask Claude to review it for bugs, security issues, or performance problems. I do this before deploying anything. It catches things I miss - especially edge cases.
Quick setup:
Paste your code in Claude's new chat.
Say: “Review this for bugs, security issues, and performance problems. Flag anything critical.”
Ask it to fix what it finds
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11. FILM: Claude as a Video Studio
I used to think video required a camera, an editor, and half a day. Then I connected Claude to Higgsfield. Now I script, generate, and publish short-form AI videos without recording a single second of footage.
This isn’t a screen recording. This is Claude writing the script, Higgsfield generating the cinematic footage, and me publishing the result - start to finish in under 30 minutes.
Quick setup:
Connect Higgsfield to Claude via MCP in settings
Describe your video concept to Claude - it writes the script and the generation prompt
Claude sends the prompt to Higgsfield and returns your video
Read the full guide here👇
I don’t own a camera. Every video on my feed was generated. Claude wrote the prompt. Higgsfield made the footage. Nobody can tell the difference.
12. RENDER: Artifacts
Claude can output fully functional HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as a live preview inside the chat. Ask it to build a calculator, a landing page, a data viz - and it shows you the working version. I built a simple prompt testing tool this way.
Quick setup:
Click on the Artifacts Icon on the left side of the chat menu.
Select the category.
Ask: “Build me a [tool/page] and render it as an Artifact”
Interact with the live output directly in chat
Say “fix [issue]” or “add [feature]” to iterate
Read the step-by-step guide here👇
How to build an app with Claude Artifacts
But here’s my system for you, what I built and what it replaced.
CONNECT - Claude as Your Integration Layer
13. CONNECT: MCP Servers
Model Context Protocol lets Claude connect to external tools - your calendar, your CRM, your database. This is the feature I’m most excited about right now. Not fully mainstream yet, but the builders are already using it.
Quick setup:
Go to Claude settings → Connectors → Customize → “+”
Search for the App that you want to connect to.
Connect an MCP server (start with a simple one like Google Calendar or Google Drive
Ask Claude to do something that requires that data
Read the step-by-step guide here👇
14. SEARCH: Web Search
Claude searches the web live and brings the results into your conversation. I use this for anything where my question has a “right now” component - current prices, recent launches, live events.
Quick setup:
Click on the “+” icon in the chat bar.
Toggle web search on
Ask any question that needs current information
Claude cites its sources - click through to verify
15. BROWSE: Claude in Chrome
The Chrome extension lets Claude see what’s on your screen as you browse. You can ask it to summarise, extract, or act on any page you’re looking at. I use it to extract structured data from pricing pages without copying anything manually.
Quick setup:
Install the Claude for Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store
Browse to any page
Open the extension and ask “what’s on this page” or “extract [specific thing].”
Read the step-by-step guide here👇
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16. SPREADSHEET: Claude in Excel
The Excel integration lets Claude read your spreadsheet and build formulas, analyse data, or generate charts based on what’s in the cells. I used it to clean a messy CSV in under 3 minutes last week.
Quick setup:
Install Claude for Excel from Microsoft AppSource
Open any spreadsheet
Ask: “Analyse this data and tell me the 3 biggest patterns”
Read the step-by-step guide here👇
Excel just got a new friend?!
Honestly, that’s on me because I did not expect to care this much about an AI plugin inside Excel.
Stop scrolling for one second.
You just learned 16 things that most Claude users will never discover.
The next 9 aren’t features.
They’re the difference between using Claude and being powered by it.
Don’t skim what’s coming.
AUTOMATE - Claude as Your Operating System
17. AUTOMATE: Cowork
Cowork is Claude’s desktop agent for non-developers. It can manage files, automate repetitive tasks, and move things between apps on your computer - no code required. Think of it as having a junior assistant who never gets tired.
Quick setup:
Download the Cowork desktop app from claude.ai
Open it and describe the task you want automated
Start with something small: organise a folder, rename files in bulk
18. BUILD: Second Brain with Claude
I used to lose every good idea I had. Read something useful - forgot it by Thursday. Had an insight in the shower - gone by the time I opened my laptop.
Then I built a second brain inside Obsidian using Claude. Now every article I read, every idea I have, every newsletter I write gets captured, connected, and retrievable in seconds.
This isn’t note-taking. This is Claude processing your raw thoughts and turning them into a structured, searchable knowledge system that compounds over time.
Quick setup:
Install Obsidian (free) and the Local REST API plugin
Connect Claude Desktop to your vault via MCP
Tell Claude: Here’s what I read today - extract the key ideas, connect them to what I already know, and save them as linked notes
Read the full guide here👇
I set up my second brain in under an hour.
I spent 3 hours rebuilding my note-taking system last year.
My vault has 2,000+ notes. Claude built most of it. I just kept feeding it things I found interesting.
19. INSTALL: Skills
Claude Skills let you save a set of instructions that Claude always follows in a specific Project. It’s like giving Claude a permanent job description. I have a skill for newsletter writing, one for LinkedIn posts, and one for code review - all different.
Quick setup:
Open a Project
Add a document called “How to work with me on [task].”
Write your instructions there - Claude will follow them every time
Read the step-by-step guide here👇
20. STORE: Projects
Projects are persistent workspaces where Claude remembers your documents, your instructions, and your conversation history across sessions. Every serious workflow I have lives in a Project now - not a one-off chat.
Quick setup:
Click “Projects” in the left sidebar
Create a new Project with a clear name
Add any documents Claude needs to know about
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21. REMEMBER: Memory System
Claude can remember information about you across conversations - not just within a Project. It stores preferences, context, and facts you’ve told it. I told Claude my newsletter’s voice rules once. It remembered them in the next session.
Quick setup:
Go to Settings → Memory
See what Claude currently remembers about you
Edit or add to it manually, or let Claude learn from conversations
22. PLAN: Project Planner
Ask Claude to build a full project plan - with milestones, tasks, owners, and timelines - for any goal. I used this to plan my newsletter editorial calendar for the next quarter. Gave me a structure I actually used.
Quick setup:
Say: “Build a project plan for [goal]. I have [X weeks] and [N people].
Output it as: Phase / Milestone / Tasks / Owner / Deadline”Iterate until the structure fits your reality
Copy into Notion or Asana
23. TEACH: Tutor Mode
Tell Claude you want to learn something and ask him to teach you - with examples, questions, and checks on your understanding. Not just explain it once. Tutor you through it. I used this to learn Python basics in 3 sessions.
Quick setup:
Say: “Teach me [topic]. Start with the basics. Ask me questions as you go to check my understanding.”
Answer the questions - even if you’re guessing
Ask “Why was I wrong?” on anything you miss
Use the copy-paste prompt pasted below:
Teach me how Claude's context window works
and why it matters for my daily use.
Rules for this session:
- Start with the simplest possible explanation
- Use one real-world analogy
- After every concept, ask me one question
to check if I understood
- If I answer wrong, correct me gently and
re-explain before moving on
- If I answer right, go deeper
- Keep each response under 150 words
Start now.24. REVIEW → PROMPT: Prompt Builder Loop
This is a workflow, not a feature. Use Claude to review your own prompts, score them, and rewrite the weak ones. I run every new prompt through this loop before I use it in production.
Quick setup:
Paste this copy-paste prompt into your claude new chat along with your prompt:
Here is a prompt I wrote:
[PASTE YOUR PROMPT]
Review it for:
1. Clarity — is the task unambiguous?
2. Role — does it give Claude a clear role?
3. Output format — does it specify exactly what I want?
4. Constraints — does it eliminate the outputs I don't want?
Score each out of 10. Then rewrite the prompt to score 9+ on all four.
Score each out of 10 - this one line forces Claude to be specific, not just polite about what’s wrong.
25. REFLECT: Claude as a Thinking Partner
This is the one nobody talks about. Ask Claude to challenge your assumptions. Push back on your plan. Find the hole in your argument. I use this before every big decision - not to get an answer, but to find the question I missed.
Quick setup:
Describe your plan, idea, or decision
Say: Play devil’s advocate. What’s the strongest argument against this? What am I not seeing?
Don’t defend yourself - just listen
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The Honest Take
Not all 25 are worth your time right now.
Here’s the real breakdown:
Use daily: Projects, Memory, Web Search, Document Upload, Long Form Drafts, Code Review
Use when you need them: Extended Thinking, Deep Research, Artifacts, MCP Servers, Prompt Builder
Watch and wait: Claude Design for images (still maturing), Claude in Chrome (powerful but requires paid plan)
Underrated: Tutor Mode, Prompt Builder Loop, Second Brain with Claude, Thinking Partner - most people skip all four entirely
In 60 Seconds:
→ Claude has 25 distinct modes - most people use 3
→ Group them: Think / Create / Build / Connect / Automate
→ Daily drivers: Projects, Memory, Web Search, Document Upload, Drafts
→ Power moves: Extended Thinking, Artifacts, MCP Servers, Code
→ Underused: Tutor Mode, Thinking Partner, Prompt Builder Loop
Save this. Screenshot it. Come back to it.
Here are a few issues that you might have missed (go check them out):
Clone Any Faceless YouTube Channel with Claude (Step-by-Step)
How to fix your Obsidian graveyard with Claude under 20 mins
I gave Claude Fable 5 a Month-Long Project - Here is what happened
15 Insane Things People Built With Claude Mythos in 48 Hours
US Just Disabled Mythos and Fable 5. Here’s What’s Gonna Happen Next
We tested it in public. Now go use it in private.
If this issue gave you something real, a framework, a starting point, a moment where something clicked, share it.
Not for me. For the person in your life who’s been using Claude for six months and still asking, “How do I get better at this?
And for shorter takes between issues, follow me on X → Hamza Khalid
PS: Which of these 25 did you not know existed before today?
Hit reply - I read every response.
- Hamza 💙