Anatomy of a session
Full Lesson Reference
A session starts when you type claude and ends when you type /wrapup + close the terminal. What happens in between is the session itself. This lesson unpacks the 3 phases.
Phase 1: Opening
The first 30 seconds. Claude loads CLAUDE.md, skill descriptions, and connects to MCPs for this project. If you run /startup, memory loads too.
Good openings feed Claude a clear goal for the session
terminal/startup
Today I want to: finish the weekly report for [client], draft 3 emails for the promo campaign, and review the Google Ads account for waste.
Naming your goals upfront means Claude plans better, and /wrapup has a clear arc to summarise.
Phase 2: Working
The middle 80% of the session. You give instructions, Claude executes, you approve permissions, review output, iterate.
Pattern: short instructions, quick approvals, let Claude do the work.
If something isn't right, don't explain at length - just redirect:
That's not what I meant. Try it with [specific change]. The tone is off - make it more direct. Cut section 3 and rebuild section 2 with this data instead. Claude adjusts. Moves faster than long explanations.
Phase 3: Closing
The final 2-3 minutes. Before /wrapup, take stock
Summarise what we accomplished today. Then list everything that's still pending - not finished, postponed, or blocked. Group by priority.
Claude produces a clean list. Confirm it's accurate. Then
terminal/wrapup
Saves, commits, pushes. Done.
Signs a session is going well
- You're approving permissions in under 2 seconds each
- Claude's outputs need minor tweaks, not full rewrites
- You're not repeating yourself
- Context is under 50%
- You're making decisions, Claude is executing
Signs it's time to wrap up
- Context is over 50%
- Claude starts making mistakes it wasn't making earlier
- You're explaining something for the second or third time
- You've hit a natural stopping point (feature done, report shipped, brief complete)
- You're switching to a different project
Wrap up on any of those. Fresh session starts faster than a degraded one.
Action items
☐ Open every session with a clear goal statement after /startup
☐ Keep instructions short - redirect, don't over-explain
☐ Take stock before /wrapup - summary + pending list
☐ Wrap up at natural stopping points, not just when you're "done"
Next lesson: Giving Claude files to work with.
Exercises
- Review the concepts covered in this lesson: Anatomy of a session.
- Write down your key takeaway from this lesson.
- Practice running any commands or prompts mentioned above inside your terminal.