Automate Basics

Free short course

Claude, Start to Finish

What it is, what Projects and Skills mean, and when to use it

The other big assistant, and the one people who write for a living tend to prefer. Plus a straight answer on what a Skill actually is.

Rahul Arora

Founder, Automate Basics

Start free
Level
BeginnerNo experience assumed
Lessons
9Plus one practice brief
Content
85 minRead at your own pace
Price
FreeNo exam, no certificate

What you’ll be working on

  • Getting started
  • Claude
  • Skills

Freeto read, all of it

The first lesson needs no account. A free account opens the rest — no card, nothing to cancel.

Start freeRead the syllabus

What this course includes

  • 9 lessons · 85 min
  • One practice brief on your own work
  • No exam and nothing to pass
  • Nothing locked, nothing gated
  • No subscription — this site does not have one

Where this leads

You will know the tool and be able to write a Skill. AIE-100 adds the part that decides whether any of it is safe to rely on: how these things fail, the sixty-second check on anything you are about to send, what may never go in, and when to disclose that you used one.

AIE-100: AI Essentials

Who this is for

  • You keep seeing the name Claude and have no idea what it is
  • Someone told you to 'use a Skill' and you nodded
  • You already use ChatGPT and want to know whether this one is worth the switch

What you'll be able to do

This is what the course covers. Nothing else is claimed, and none of it is assessed.

  • Explain what Claude is and where it genuinely differs from ChatGPT
  • Use Projects to stop re-explaining your context every conversation
  • Understand what a Skill is, and write one for a task you repeat
  • Use Artifacts and long-document work, the two things it is best at

Where this leads

AIE-100 · AI Essentials

You will know the tool and be able to write a Skill. AIE-100 adds the part that decides whether any of it is safe to rely on: how these things fail, the sixty-second check on anything you are about to send, what may never go in, and when to disclose that you used one.

  • Everything in AIE-100 is free to read, and the assessment is free to sit.
  • Pass it and the certificate is yours for $49, once — never a subscription.
  • Verifiable by anyone, with no account and no login.
  • No renewal, no expiry, no annual fee.
See AIE-100How verification works

Automate Basics

Certificate of Competency

AIE-100

This certifies that

Your name

has passed the final assessment of the AI Essentials certification.

The holder declares the course’s lessons and live applications complete; the assessment result above is machine-marked by the issuer.

Assessed competencies are published with this credential at automatebasics.com/verify

Credential ID

AIE-100-2026-·······

Verify at automatebasics.com/verify

The curriculum

Every module, every lesson and every duration, before you decide. All of it is free, and there is nothing to buy on this course.

Modules
3
Lessons
9
Practice briefs
1
Total time
about 85 min
  1. 1

    What it is and how to start

    The plain answer to 'what is Claude', the setup, and an honest comparison rather than a fan's one.

    3 lessons · 10 min

    1. 1.1What Claude isYou can explain Claude to someone who has never heard of it, and set the control that decides whether your chats train the model4 min
    2. 1.2Which one should you actually useYou can route a task to Claude, ChatGPT or the assistant inside your work tools in a few seconds3 min
    3. 1.3Artifacts: when the answer is a documentYou can edit a document in an artifact repeatedly without silently losing the parts you were happy with3 min
  2. 2

    Projects and Skills

    The two features people ask about by name, explained plainly, with a Skill you write yourself.

    3 lessons · 18 min

    1. 2.1Projects: context that stays putYou can set up a Project so the first answer in a new conversation is usable without a paragraph of background3 min
    2. 2.2What a Skill actually isYou can say in one sentence what a Skill is, and tell whether a job needs a Skill, a Project, both or neither3 min
    3. 2.3Writing your first SkillYou can write a work procedure precise enough to run without you watching, and fix the instruction rather than the output when it goes wrong12 min
  3. 3

    Working with real documents

    The thing Claude is genuinely best at, and how to do it without being misled.

    3 lessons · 16 min

    1. 3.1Long documents, done properlyYou can get an answer from a fifty-page document you can verify in ten seconds, and know which pages you still read yourself4 min
    2. 3.2Using it as an editor and a criticYou can get a critique of your own draft that tells you something new, instead of a tidier version of what you already thought9 min
    3. 3.3Connecting it to your other toolsYou can decide what to connect and what to keep out, and recognise output that is following instructions you never gave3 min

Practice brief

A brief completed against your own work with a published rubric. Free, like every lesson.

  1. Build a Project and write one Skill

    40 min

    The project instruction, the written Skill, the output from one real run, and a note on what you changed after testing.

No exam, no certificate

This is a short course. It is free, there is nothing to pay and nothing to sit, and it does not issue a credential.

It leads to AIE-100, AI Essentials.

See AIE-100

Start Claude, Start to Finish

First lesson is 4 minutes and needs no account.

  • Your place is kept — pick up on your phone where you left off on your laptop
  • Lessons you have finished stay finished, even if you clear your browser
  • Assessment results are recorded against you, permanently

Free account, no card, nothing to cancel.

Start free