Abstract

AI Coding is one of the most FOMO inducing “recent” (2-3 years) developments affecting software engineering. My goal is to create a compact, hands-on workshop for learning how to use the most recent tools and more importantly - how to slightly reduce that feeling that things are moving at lightspeed without you.

Over the past 3 years I have found myself changing tooling multiple times. So my goal is to not only teach what the “latest and greatest” is - as that can change fast - but rather to adapt people’s workflows into ones that can allow such fast changes.

Practically speaking - in this 1.5-2.5* hour-workshop I will present how I work using Cursor and Claude Code. My goal is to cover initial set-up all the way to advanced tooling such as subagents, skills and hooks, explain how they interact, how they can use eachother, and how to create your own.

The workshop is “code-first”: participants are going to be using their own laptops on a shared codebase that has the basics ready for learning and enhancements.

Target Audience

  • Backend, data, and ML engineers who want to level up their AI coding skills.
  • Participants should optimally already have Cursor/VSCode installed but we can also do that part together.
  • A shorter, no-hands-on is also an option.
  • Works well for groups of 5-15; this allows for a “sit down” experience.

Prerequisites

Sent ahead of time: install Cursor + Claude Code, Node, gh, clone the shared repo, set API keys.

Syllabus

Part 1 - Foundations (~30 min)

  • Cursor tour; picking the right model (Haiku/Sonnet/Opus, thinking models)
  • Context engineering: CLAUDE.md, @file references, project vs user memory
  • Claude Code - what it is, what it does, how it differs from Cursor

Part 2 - Tooling That Compounds (~45 min)

  • How I work with Claude Code?: honest review of how I work
  • Planning vs execution: plan mode, interview-style prompting, /handoff between sessions
  • MCPs and CLIs (gh, Linear) as first-class tools
  • SKILLS.md and subagents - tour the provided .claude/, then open the hood on one skill and one subagent
  • Hooks and scripts - automating the boring parts

Part 3 - Problems (~20 min)

  • Git hygiene with agents: worktrees, commit discipline, reviewing diffs before accepting
  • Evaluation and guardrails: catching “LGTM drift” and silent wrong answers
  • Security issues and how to best avoid them

Part 4 - Capstone: the self-improve skill (~30 min)

One exercise that threads everything together. Participants build a skill that, at session end, reviews what they just did and proposes updates to their own CLAUDE.md.

What You Walk Away With

  • A working self-improve skill committed to your own dotfiles
  • A mental model for when to reach for Cursor vs Claude Code vs a subagent vs a hook
  • A workflow that survives the next tooling cycle, not just this one

*Timings are approximate; a precise structure/syllabus will be decided depending on final duration.