Session 3 · Claude Code in the Desktop
Session 3 · Claude Code in the Desktop: build without being a developer
Info
⏱ Duration: ~100 min core + welcome + optional block · 🎯 Goal: use Claude Desktop’s Code tab —no terminal, no installs— to build a real tool: an Elektra Rewards KPI dashboard that reads a CSV, shows cards with traffic-light indicators, and verifies itself in the Browser pane.
Week 3 of 4. You already standardized your team with skills and plugins (Week 1) and automated with governance (Week 2). Now the CEO wants your organization to build its own tools instead of waiting on IT. Good news: you don’t need to be a developer or open a terminal.
Claude Desktop has three tabs: Chat to converse, Cowork for longer agentic work (and Dispatch), and Code to build. Today you live in Code.
- Chat — general conversation, no file access (like claude.ai).
- Cowork — an autonomous agent that works in the background inside a sandboxed VM with its own environment, while you do something else.
- Code — an interactive assistant with direct access to your local files: you review and approve each change in real time.
Tip
Non-developer selling point (verbatim): “The desktop app includes Claude Code. You don’t need to install Node.js or the CLI separately.” No terminal, no Node, no CLI: just the Code tab.
Agenda
| # | Topic | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your first look: open Code and set the 4 pre-flight settings | ~20 min |
| 2 | Build your dashboard — the star exercise (CSV → HTML with traffic lights) | ~40 min |
| 3 | Code modes and non-dev extras | ~25 min |
| 4 | Wrap-up, quiz and bridge to Week 4 | ~15 min |
| Core total | ~100 min |
We start with 5 min of welcome. If there’s time left (2.5 h session), there’s an "⏱ If there’s time" block to customize your dashboard at the end.
Learning objectives
- Tell the three tabs of Claude Desktop apart (Chat / Cowork / Code) and when to use each.
- Open Code, choose Environment = Local, Select folder for your project, model and permission mode = Manual.
- Build a real HTML tool from a natural-language prompt and review each change in the diff before accepting it.
- Verify the result in the Browser pane (Claude self-verifies with screenshots/clicks).
- Name the 5 Code permission modes and when to move from Manual to Accept edits or Plan.
Info
Usage limits: Code shares your plan’s usage limits with Chat/Cowork/Design. With 15-20 people iterating at once, pace your iterations. Instructor note: stagger the group’s starts so you don’t saturate the plan.
Note
Cohort assumptions: we assume a Team/Enterprise plan. If your organization uses a different plan, the exercise pattern is the same; only the usage quotas change.
Warning
Permanent guardrail: no PII, NDA data, or commercially sensitive information. In this Session work only with
datos/kpis-elektra.csv from the zip, which is fictitious. Always start in Manual mode: your files aren’t modified until you accept.