MLA 023 Claude Code Components

Claude Code distinguishes itself through a deterministic hook system and model-invoked skills that maintain project consistency better than visual-first tools like Cursor. Its multi-surface architecture allows developers to move sessions between CLI, web sandboxes, and mobile while maintaining persistent context. Links • Notes and resources at ocdevel.com/mlg/mla-23 Try a walking desk • - stay healthy & sharp while you learn & code Generate a podcast • - use my voice to listen to any AI generated content you want Agent Comparison Cursor • : VS Code fork. Uses visual interactions (Cmd+K, Composer mode), multi-line tab completion, and background cloud agents. Credit-based billing ($20 to $200). Codex CLI • : Terminal-first Rust agent. Uses GPT-5.3-Codex. Features three autonomy modes (Suggest, Auto-approve, Full Auto). Included in $20 ChatGPT Plus. Antigravity • : Agent-first interface using Gemini 3 Pro. Manager View orchestrates parallel agents that produce verifiable task lists and recordings. Claude Code • : Terminal, IDE, and mobile sessions. Uses Sonnet/Opus 4.5/4.6. Differentiates via deep composability and cross-surface persistence. Persistent Memory and Skills CLAUDE.md • : 4-tier hierarchy (Enterprise, Project, User, Local). Loads recursively, enabling monorepo support where child directories load lazily. Imports use @ • syntax. Skills • : Model-invoked capability folders. Three-stage loading (metadata, instructions, supporting resources) minimizes context use. Claude triggers them based on description fields. Commands • : User-triggered slash commands. /compact • preserves topics while trimming history, /init • generates memory files, and /checkpoint • manages rollbacks. Enforcement and Integration Hooks • : Deterministic shell commands or LLM prompts. Fired at 10 events, including PreToolUse • (blocking), PostToolUse • (formatting), and Stop • (self-correction). Exit code 2 blocks actions, code 0 allows. MCP • : Standard for connecting external tools (PostgreSQL, GitHub, Sentry). Tool Search activates when metadata exceeds 10% context window. Claude Code can serve its own tools via MCP. Subagents • : Isolated context workers. Explore • uses Haiku for discovery, Plan • uses Sonnet for research. isolation: worktree • provides filesystem-level separation. Agent Teams • : Persistent multi-pane coordination via tmux. Modes: Hub-and-Spoke, Task Queue, Pipeline, Competitive, and Watchdog. Operations and Security Checkpoints • : Granular undo allows independent rollback of code changes or conversation history. Thinking Triggers • : Keywords Think • to Ultrathink • adjust reasoning compute allocation. • Headless • : --print • or --headless • flags enable CI/CD. GitHub Action uses four parallel agents to score review findings above 80% confidence. Sandboxing • : Uses Apple Seatbelt (macOS) or Bubblewrap (Linux). Restricts filesystem and network access, reducing permission prompts by 84%. Output Styles • : Modifies system prompts for Default • , Explanatory • , or Learning • personas.