Claude Cheat Sheet: A Complete Guide to Anthropic’s AI

It started as a cautious alternative to ChatGPT. Now it codes your codebase, controls your computer, researches anything, and has landed its maker in a legal standoff with the Pentagon.

Claude is writing code for developers, reading contracts for lawyers, automating spreadsheets for analysts, and now — after a bruising legal fight with the Trump administration — standing as one of the most politically visible AI products in the world. Whether you’re picking it up for the first time or trying to get more out of it, this is the guide you need. Here’s everything you need to know about Claude.

What is Claude?

Claude is a family of AI models developed by Anthropic for conversational, writing, research, coding, and analysis tasks. Like other large language models, Claude doesn’t know things the way a person does — it’s a transformer-based model trained to predict the most useful sequence of words given its input. 

What sets it apart, according to Anthropic, is that it was designed from the start around “constitutional AI,” a framework intended to make the model’s responses more reliable and less harmful by baking in principles rather than relying entirely on human feedback to correct bad behavior.

What the product actually looks like in 2026 has grown well beyond a chat window. Claude can browse the web, control a computer’s mouse and keyboard, analyze uploaded files, generate interactive charts directly in chat, and power an expanding ecosystem of workplace integrations. It is, in short, considerably more than a text box.

Who made Claude?

Claude is the flagship product of Anthropic, an AI safety company founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei, and several colleagues who previously worked at OpenAI. The company describes its mission as building AI that is safe, beneficial, and understandable, an emphasis reflected in its approach to model training and behavior.

Anthropic has attracted significant investment from major technology players, with both Google and Amazon holding substantial financial stakes. The company employs more than 2,000 people and counts itself among the handful of organizations building what the industry calls “frontier models,” the most capable AI systems in existence.

The company has not been without controversy. In early 2026, a legal battle erupted with the Trump administration after contract negotiations for Pentagon AI soured. A federal judge ultimately blocked the government from banning federal agencies and contractors from using Claude, describing the move as unconstitutional retaliation against a company that had publicly disagreed with the government’s contracting terms. The case is ongoing.

What does Claude do?

Claude handles a wide range of tasks. Its core strengths include writing assistance, code generation, document analysis, and multi-step reasoning. But the platform has expanded substantially in 2025 and 2026, and several newer capabilities are worth knowing about.

Core capabilities at a glance

• Chat: Question answering, brainstorming, planning, drafting text in, text out, across virtually any subject.
• Write: Emails, reports, summaries, scripts, social media posts, and long-form content with adjustable tone and style.
• Code: Writing, debugging, and explaining code across languages; building apps even for non-developers. The dedicated Claude Code terminal tool handles larger codebases.
• Deep research: Claude crawls the web, gathers sources, and returns cited, structured reports on complex topics.
• Analyze: Upload spreadsheets, PDFs, images, charts, and screenshots for Claude to interpret, extract, or summarize.
• Artifacts: Claude can generate live, interactive content directly in the chat, such as charts, diagrams, and even small functional web apps, without needing a side panel.
• Computer: Claude can control a computer’s mouse, keyboard, and screen to carry out multi-step tasks across applications, in research preview for Pro and Max users on macOS.
• Code review: Claude Code’s new Code Review feature deploys multiple agents simultaneously to find bugs in a pull request and rank them by severity before you merge.
• Voice mode: Real-time voice chat available in the mobile apps, with a selection of AI voices.
• MCP (Model Context Protocol): A bridge that lets Claude connect directly to your data in Slack, Google Drive, or GitHub, so it can “read” your team’s conversations and files in real-time.
• Skills: A feature that allows users to save “folders” of specific brand guidelines, tones, or instructions that Claude automatically applies to new projects.
• Long-context handling: Claude can process up to 20 files at a time, making it a powerhouse for analyzing long legal documents or massive codebases.

One of the more significant recent additions is Claude Cowork, Anthropic’s enterprise productivity platform. It allows companies to build private “plugin marketplaces” customized versions of Claude trained on their specific workflows and terminology, for departments ranging from legal to investment banking. Claude can now also hand off tasks between Excel and PowerPoint in a single session, running an analysis in one and building the presentation in the other without you having to re-explain anything.

Where is Claude available?

Claude is accessible across most major platforms, though some features are gated by subscription level or geography.

• Web: claude.ai, accessible in any modern browser. 
• Mobile: iOS and Android apps with voice chat and file upload support. 
• Desktop: macOS and Windows apps. 
• IDEs: Integrations for VS Code, Cursor, and JetBrains, plus a terminal tool called Claude Code for developers. 
• Chrome: An official extension for all paid subscribers. 
• Enterprise cloud: Available through the Anthropic API, Amazon Bedrock, and Google Cloud Vertex AI for organizations building on top of Claude.

Claude Cowork, the workplace productivity platform, connects Claude to widely used business software, including Google Workspace, DocuSign, FactSet, WordPress, and others. Companies, including Slack, S&P Global, and Apollo, have built plugins for joint customers. The platform also integrates with Excel and PowerPoint via downloadable add-ins.

How much does Claude cost?

Claude’s pricing runs from free to $200 per month for individuals, with separate business and enterprise tiers. At the standard $20 Pro price, it is competitive with ChatGPT Plus and slightly cheaper on an annualized basis.

• Free ($0 per month): Basic access to Sonnet model, daily rate limits, core features only.
• Pro ($20 per month): All models, including Opus, deep research, Claude Code, Cowork, higher limits, Projects & Artifacts.
• Max ($100 or $200/month 5× or 20× Pro usage): Priority access, early features, Chrome extension.
• Team ($25 per user/month (5-seat min): Shared workspaces, admin controls, higher limits. Premium tier at $125/user/month.

For developers using the API, pricing is token-based. As of April 2026: Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output tokens; Sonnet 4.6 runs $3 in and $15 out; Haiku 4.5 is the budget option at $1 in and $5 out. 

Prompt caching can cut costs by up to 90% for repeated contexts, and batch processing offers a 50% discount for asynchronous jobs.

The Code Review feature in Claude Code carries a separate cost, typically $15 to $25 per pull request, depending on the size of the code change. It’s available only to Team and Enterprise accounts.

Which AI models power Claude?

Claude runs on three model lines, each designed for a different balance of intelligence, speed, and cost.

• Claude Opus 4.6 (Flagship): Complex agentic workflows, deep coding, large codebases, strategic reasoning, long-running tasks. Top-tier intelligence across the board.
• Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Default): The default for free and Pro users. A strong everyday model that balances speed with strong coding, computer use, and knowledge work. 
• Claude Haiku 4.5 (Efficient): High-volume API use, fast responses where cost efficiency matters more than maximum capability.

Both Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 were released in Feb. 2026. They share a focus on agentic tasks. A future model codenamed “Mythos” is reportedly under development and is expected to surpass Opus 4.6 in capabilities, though no release date has been confirmed as of the time of writing.

What’s new in Claude in 2026?

The past twelve months have brought a wave of feature additions that shift Claude from a chatbot into something closer to an autonomous colleague. Here are the most significant changes.

Computer use

Claude can now navigate a computer on your behalf, clicking, typing, opening apps, and running tests using the screen, mouse, and keyboard. It first reaches for direct connectors (Slack, Google Calendar, etc.) and only drops to screen control when no connector is available. It requires explicit permission before entering each new application and can be stopped at any time. Currently available to Pro and Max subscribers on macOS, through Claude Cowork and Claude Code.

Interactive visualizations in chat

Claude now generates interactive charts, diagrams, and visualizations directly inside the chat window, not a side panel. These visuals appear mid-conversation, respond to follow-up questions, and can be adjusted or expanded on the fly. Ask something like “visualize how this changes over time” and a live interactive curve appears. The feature is on by default and available to free users.

Code Review in Claude Code

When a code change is opened for review, Code Review dispatches a team of agents to inspect it simultaneously. They cross-check each other’s findings to filter false positives, then rank issues by severity, returning a single high-signal summary plus inline notes attached to the specific lines of concern. Internally, Anthropic says it raised the share of code submissions getting substantive review comments from 16% to 54%. It costs $15 to $25 per pull request and is available on Team and Enterprise plans.

Claude Cowork expands

Cowork, Anthropic’s enterprise productivity platform, now supports private plugin marketplaces, letting organizations build custom Claude agents tailored to specific departments. New connectors include Google Workspace, DocuSign, FactSet, WordPress, and LegalZoom. Claude can now also move between Excel and PowerPoint in a single workflow, passing context between both without needing the user to re-explain the task.

Privacy, data, and security

Anthropic’s privacy story has grown more complicated over time. Claude no longer stands out for having a user-friendly default data policy; the company now trains on user conversations by default, a change from its earlier stance. Users can opt out via settings, and an “Incognito chats” (temporary mode) is available for conversations that shouldn’t be stored.

The company holds SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications. Enterprise plans include customer-managed encryption keys, audit logs, and additional administrative controls. Business deployments can add isolation controls, including private cloud configurations, depending on the tier.

Anthropic published a Threat Intelligence Report last year, flagging that criminal actors had misused Claude for cyberattacks, extortion, and AI-assisted fraud. In one case, a criminal operation used Claude Code to carry out large-scale data theft against hospitals, emergency services, and government agencies. 

Separately, North Korean IT operatives have used Claude-generated resumes and coding assistance to obtain remote jobs at American companies, funneling salaries back to Pyongyang. Anthropic says it banned the relevant accounts and implemented new safety measures, though it acknowledges that AI-assisted cybercrime is advancing faster than expected.

As with any cloud-based platform, conversations with Claude can be subpoenaed and produced in legal proceedings. Users handling sensitive professional information should take that into account.

What are Claude’s competitors?

The frontier AI market has consolidated around a small number of major players, with each staking out distinct strengths.

• ChatGPT (OpenAI): The market leader by usage. GPT-5 family covers reasoning, coding, image generation, computer use, and real-time web search. More features than Claude out of the box. 
• Gemini (Google): Strong multimodal performance; deeply integrated into Google Workspace, Android, and Search. Best for users already in the Google ecosystem.
• Microsoft Copilot: Runs on OpenAI models; built into Windows, Edge, Teams, and Office 365. The natural choice for Microsoft-heavy organizations.
• Perplexity AI: Always cites its sources and links to search results. Superior for current-events research; weaker on creative tasks. No image generation.
• Meta AI (Llama): Open-weight model available across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the web. Popular for developers who want to self-host and avoid API costs.
• xAI Grok: Positioned as a real-time social intelligence tool tightly integrated with X. Bundled with X Premium.
• DeepSeek (China): Offers strong reasoning at low or no cost, creating a splash in early 2025. Raises data privacy concerns due to potential access by Chinese authorities.

For coding tasks specifically, Claude Code is regarded as a serious competitor to other agentic coding tools, including Cursor and GitHub Copilot. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have reportedly been collaborating to combat unauthorized model “distillation” by Chinese AI labs.

Criticisms, limitations, and open questions

No AI product is without its shortcomings, and Claude is no exception.

• Accuracy: Like all LLMs, Claude can generate confident and entirely incorrect information. Users must fact-check mission-critical outputs against reliable sources.
• Features: Claude does not generate images or video, a meaningful gap compared to ChatGPT and Gemini, both of which include these capabilities.
• Web search: Claude’s web search is slightly slower than competitors, and its sourcing is less detailed than ChatGPT’s, which highlights relevant text when you hover over a citation.
• Privacy: Training on user data is now opt-out rather than opt-in, which may concern privacy-conscious users.
• Misuse: Anthropic’s own threat intelligence reports document criminal use of Claude for cyberattacks, extortion campaigns, and fraudulent employment schemes.
• Legal: The ongoing federal dispute over Pentagon contracts introduces regulatory and reputational uncertainty for enterprise customers.

How to get started with Claude

Getting going takes about two minutes. Visit claude.ai, create a free account using your email address, Google, or Apple login, and start typing. A paid account isn’t required to begin.

For best results, write specific prompts. Tell Claude what format you want the response in, who the audience is, and how long or short you need it to be. For complex problems, ask it to work through the problem step by step before giving you an answer; this tends to produce more accurate results on technical or analytical tasks.

To manage privacy, go to Settings and look for data controls. You can turn off chat history to prevent your conversations from being used to train future models. Memory — Claude’s ability to remember details across sessions — can also be toggled on or off in Settings, and you can review everything it knows about you in a dedicated settings page.

For developers, API access is set up through console.anthropic.com, where you can generate an API key and explore the documentation. Claude Code, the terminal-based agentic coding tool, is available on the Pro plan and above.

Quick-start checklist

☐ Visit claude.ai and sign up for free.
☐ Install the iOS or Android app for voice chat.
☐ Upgrade to Pro for deep research, Opus access, and Claude Code.
☐ Connect Google Drive or Slack via Claude Cowork for workplace workflows.
☐ Adjust memory and data settings in Settings > Personalization.

Also read: Better Claude prompts for AI images can make the difference between vague outputs and visuals that actually match your intent.

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