# What Can Claude Code Do? > Real Claude Code use cases beyond writing code, from tests and docs to data cleanup, videos, carousels, reports and chores, each with a prompt to copy. Canonical: https://nexin.si/library/what-can-claude-code-do Guide · Claude · Free Real Claude Code use cases beyond writing code, from tests and docs to data cleanup, videos, carousels, reports and chores, each with a prompt to copy. Added Nov 2, 2026 What can Claude Code do once you get past “it writes code”? This free guide answers with concrete Claude Code use cases, grouped by the kind of work, and gives you a prompt to copy for each one. It is written for people deciding whether the tool is worth learning, and for people who already have it and use it for one thing only. ## What the guide covers The guide starts from one idea: Claude Code works in a folder on your computer, reading files, writing files and running commands with your permission. Anything that lives in files or can be done with a command is in reach. From there it walks through seven areas, from the developer staples (refactors, tests, documentation that matches the code) to work most people don’t expect: cleaning a messy CSV with a script, turning interview transcripts into a summary, renaming a folder of photos, writing a weekly status update from commits, and rendering finished carousels and videos with a kit. Every section pairs the use case with Claude Code examples you can paste and adapt. The prompts follow the same pattern: name the files, say what done looks like, and ask to see risky changes first. It also covers the limits honestly: what Claude Code can’t see, where it guesses, and when you should review before anything runs. ## Who it’s for - People who just installed Claude Code and want ideas beyond coding. - Founders, marketers and analysts who work with files every day. - Developers looking for chores to hand off. - Teams writing their first shared prompts and skills. To set the tool up first, read [How to Install Claude Code](https://nexin.si/library/install-claude-code). To make a prompt that works into something Claude follows every time, read [Claude Code Skills](https://nexin.si/library/claude-code-skills). ## FAQ ### Do I need to be a developer to use Claude Code? No. You need to be comfortable opening a terminal in a folder. Many of the use cases in the guide are about documents, data and media, not software. ### Can Claude Code make images and videos? Yes, when the folder gives it a way to render, such as a kit built for carousels or videos. The guide explains how that works. ### Is this guide free? Yes. Guides on Nexin are free and public, for anyone. Claude Code is Claude working in a folder on your computer. It reads the files there, writes new ones, edits existing ones and runs commands in your terminal, asking before anything it hasn’t been allowed to do. That last part is what makes it different from a chat window: it doesn’t hand you instructions, it does the steps and shows you the result. So the useful question isn’t “can it code?” (it can) but “what lives in files or can be done with a command?” The answer covers far more than software. Below are the use cases that work well, each with a prompt you can paste as it is or adapt. ## How to read the examples Every prompt here assumes you opened Claude Code inside the folder that holds the work: ``` cd ~/projects/my-site claude ``` Claude only sees what is in that folder (and what you paste or point it to). Give it the files, say what “done” looks like, and let it run. ## 1. Refactors and tests The classic use, and still the most valuable for developers. Claude can read a whole module, change it across many files and run the test suite until it passes. ``` Add tests for the discount logic in app/models/order.rb, covering expired codes, stacked codes and a zero total. Run the suite and fix anything you break. ``` ``` Rename the `customer_id` column to `account_id` everywhere: migration, models, queries, views and tests. Show me the diff before you run the migration. ``` ## 2. Documentation that matches the code Docs go stale because nobody wants to reread the code. Claude reads it for you. ``` Read the routes and controllers, then rewrite docs/API.md so every endpoint listed actually exists, with its parameters and one example request each. ``` ``` Write a README for this repo: what it does, how to install it, how to run it locally and the three commands I use most (check package.json and the Makefile). ``` ## 3. Data cleanup with scripts For anything bigger than a screen, ask Claude to write a script and run it, rather than editing the data by hand. The script is repeatable, and you can read what it did. ``` exports/leads.csv has duplicates, mixed date formats and emails in uppercase. Write a Python script that cleans it into exports/leads-clean.csv: one row per email, dates as YYYY-MM-DD, emails lowercased. Print how many rows it dropped and why. ``` ``` Merge every CSV in data/2026/ into one file with the same columns. Some files name the column "Revenue" and some "revenue_usd": treat them as the same. ``` ## 4. Videos and carousels with a kit Claude Code can make finished media when the folder gives it a way to render. A kit is a repository built for that: you open it in Claude Code, describe what you want, and it writes the slides or scenes and renders them on your machine. Nexin’s [Carousel Kit](https://nexin.si/library/carousel-kit) renders social carousels as PNG files and the [Video Kit](https://nexin.si/library/video-kit) renders short videos as MP4. ``` Make a 7-slide carousel from notes/launch.md: a hook slide, one idea per slide, a call to action last. Render it at 1080x1350. ``` ``` Turn the three customer quotes in quotes.md into a 20-second vertical video, one quote per scene, with our logo from assets/ on the last frame. ``` Without a kit, you can still ask Claude to build the renderer from scratch, but expect to spend your first sessions on tooling instead of content. ## 5. Research and reports Point Claude at a pile of material and ask for the summary you’d otherwise write yourself. It works best with files it can read directly: notes, transcripts, exports, PDFs it can extract text from. ``` Read every interview transcript in research/calls/ and write research/summary.md: the five problems mentioned most, with how many calls mention each and two short quotes per problem. Quote exactly, don't paraphrase inside quotes. ``` ``` Compare the pricing pages saved in competitors/ (HTML files) and make a table of plan names, prices, limits and what each one leaves out. ``` If you have web access turned on, Claude can also fetch public pages, but check what it fetched: a summary is only as good as the sources behind it. ## 6. Automating chores Anything you do by hand every week with files and commands is a candidate. ``` Rename every photo in shoots/october/ to date-location-number.jpg using the EXIF date, and put the ones without a date in shoots/october/no-date/. ``` ``` Write a script that checks every link in content/*.md and lists the ones that return an error. Then add it to package.json as "npm run links". ``` ``` Look at my last 20 commits and write this week's status update for the team: what shipped, what's in progress, what's blocked. Plain words, no hashes. ``` ## 7. Learning a codebase or a tool Before you change anything, Claude can explain it. ``` I just joined this project. Explain how a request flows from the router to the database, naming the files involved, in under 300 words. ``` ``` What does this ffmpeg command do, flag by flag? Then make it output a smaller file. ``` ## What it’s not good at - **Work outside the folder.** It doesn’t see your email, your browser tabs or an app’s data unless you export it to a file or connect a tool for it. - **Facts it can’t check.** Ask it to cite the file a claim came from. If it can’t, treat the claim as a guess. - **Taste calls with no example.** “Make it look better” gives random results. “Match the spacing on the pricing page” works. - **Unattended changes to things that matter.** Review diffs, keep the work in git, and say “show me before you run it” for anything you can’t undo. ## Make it repeatable Once a prompt works, stop retyping it. Put the method in a skill so Claude follows it whenever you ask for that job: [Claude Code Skills](https://nexin.si/library/claude-code-skills) shows how. And put your project’s standing rules (commands, conventions, what never to touch) in a `CLAUDE.md` file at the root, which Claude Code reads at the start of each session. New to the tool? Start with [How to Install Claude Code](https://nexin.si/library/install-claude-code). For ready-made skills and local kits that render carousels and videos in Claude Code, see Nexin’s [skills](https://nexin.si/library?kind=skill) and [kits](https://nexin.si/library?kind=kit). Free guide · No sign-up ## This one's free. The skills and kits are the good part. Nexin is 16 skills that teach Claude a method, 2 local kits that make Claude Code produce videos and carousels on your computer, 30 prompts and the templates, with new ones every week. One payment opens them all. NexinOne payment $27once - Every skill, prompt and template - Local kits for Claude Code (video, carousels and more) - Nexin inside Claude, ChatGPT and any MCP app - Everything added later, every week - One payment, nothing recurring - 7-day money-back guarantee [Get Nexin · $27 once](https://nexin.si/checkout?item=nexin%3Aonce) [Already have Nexin? Sign in](https://nexin.si/login) ## Skills and kits in Nexin SKILL CLAUDE ### [AI Code Review](https://nexin.si/library/ai-code-review) A skill for Claude that reviews a diff or pull request like a senior engineer: real bugs first, each with the line, why it breaks and a fix. SKILL CLAUDE ### [Conventional Commits Writer](https://nexin.si/library/conventional-commits) A skill for Claude that reads your staged changes and writes Conventional Commits messages: the right type and scope, a clear subject, a body that says why.