Four months ago I switched to Claude Code as my primary development tool. I work in the terminal now, with Claude, without VS Code or JetBrains. After four months, I have a pretty good sense of where it helps and where I still need something else.
What works well
Refactoring is where Claude Code helps me most. I can ask it to "refactor this service to use the repository pattern" and it follows the change across files, updating tests and fixing imports. An afternoon of work takes 10 minutes.
I can describe a module in natural language and get a complete implementation that follows the existing architecture. For TOPO Contabil I described the fiscal reporting module and got a full Clean Architecture implementation, entities, use cases, repositories, controllers, all consistent with the rest of the project.
For debugging, I paste the error and let Claude trace through the code to diagnose it and suggest a fix. Having the full context helps a lot with complex bugs that span multiple files.
Asking it to "write tests for this service, cover edge cases" produces thorough tests of meaningful behavior. They go beyond checking whether a function exists.
It also handles commit messages, PR descriptions, and branch management. The Git Safety rules I have in my config mean Claude never does anything destructive without confirmation.
Where it falls short
Visual work is rough because you cannot see what you are building. I still switch to a browser-based workflow for frontend stuff. CSS tweaks, layout adjustments, responsive design, these need eyes on a screen.
The terminal workflow also has limits when I need to set breakpoints and step through code while inspecting runtime state.
Claude is great when I know what I want built and less useful when I am still exploring. "Try something" is not a good prompt. You need to know what you want before you ask.
How my workflow changed
I now describe the change I want in a prompt. Where I used to think "open file, go to line 47, change this variable," I think "extract this validation logic into its own function." That makes me more deliberate about what I am asking for.
My commit frequency went up. Claude makes small, atomic commits easy. I commit after every meaningful change instead of batching.
My code review quality went up. I use Claude to review my own code before pushing. It catches things I miss.
Would I go back?
No. Even with the limitations, the productivity gain is too significant. I run 6 projects in parallel and Claude Code is the only reason that is possible. Fast implementation helps, and consistent patterns make the next refactor easier too.
I still need to know when to step out of the terminal. I make the architecture decisions and judge whether the code is good. Claude gets me to that point faster, but it cannot make those calls for me.