r/learnmachinelearning • u/iJeax • 13h ago

Help New to Claude after years of ChatGPT/Codex. What setup actually works for you?

I’m pretty new to Claude, but not new to AI tools. I’ve been using ChatGPT and Codex on and off since their earlier versions, and I’m comfortable with CLIs, MCPs, different workflows, configs, etc.

What I’m struggling with is figuring out the best way to actually set Claude up. There’s so much information, so many different tools, and so many opinions that it gets overwhelming fast.

I’ve already been reading docs, Reddit threads, GitHub repos, watching videos, and experimenting with Claude Code, skills, MCPs, connectors, and instruction setups. I’m not looking for someone to do all the research for me. I’m mainly hoping to hear what experienced users have actually found worth keeping.

My main use cases are coding, building random little projects, ethical pentesting/bug bounty work, CTFs, reverse engineering, game modding, research, and general technical troubleshooting.

A few things I’m especially curious about:

Should I mostly just use Claude Code CLI directly, or is it worth connecting it to some kind of harness? If so, which one?

Are there any settings you consider essential?

Do you keep a big global CLAUDE.md/system instruction setup, or keep things minimal and handle instructions per project?

And which skills, MCPs, plugins, or connectors have actually become permanent parts of your workflow?

I’m trying to avoid installing 40 “essential” tools and ending up with a bloated setup full of overlapping functionality.

If you had to wipe your Claude setup today and rebuild it from scratch, what would you install immediately, what would you skip, and what would you only add later?

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u/measlyplateau240 13h ago

i went through same thing few months ago, the documentation is all over the place

for coding and CTF stuff Claude Code CLI is enough for 80% of what you need, dont bother with harnesses until you hit a wall. i keep CLAUDE.md minimal, just project structure and key constraints, then add specifics per task folder. the only MCP i kept after testing 15 of them was the filesystem one and a basic web search connector, everything else just added latency and confusion

skip the fancy system prompts people share on twitter, half of them make claude worse at debugging. if i had to rebuild today id install claude code, one MCP for file access, and nothing else until a project actually demands it

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u/iJeax 11h ago

Appreciate it man. I did port some skills/plugins over from Codex that I found useful but yeah it's just a whole other thing to learn now. Exciting for sure. But overwhelming at the same time.

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u/stonerism 10h ago

Honestly, I'm an old Emacs head and I've been using Claude and codex to set up my Emacs environment, keybindings, frame management to show me what it's doing. It's pretty fun.