Go beyond the basics — custom commands, hooks, headless/CI automation, the Agent SDK, and your own MCP server
This 3-hour hands-on workshop picks up where the introductory Claude Code course leaves off. You'll harness Claude Code's agentic capabilities for complex, multi-step engineering workflows — creating reusable slash commands, enforcing policy with hooks, integrating Claude Code into CI/CD pipelines, driving the agent loop from Python with the Claude Agent SDK, and finishing with a capstone where you build a custom MCP server for a real-world use case.
Prerequisites: Completion of the introductory Claude Code workshop (skillrepos/ccode) or equivalent hands-on experience. A paid Claude account. Comfort with terminal-based workflows.
NOTE: This is a hands-on workshop — bring a personal laptop (corporate ones may not allow the labs to work).
These instructions will guide you through configuring the environment you'll use for the labs.
1. If you don't already have a paid Claude account, sign up for one at claude.ai.
You must have a paid Claude account to use Claude Code.
Important note: Lab commands and screenshots reflect using terminal integration in Codespace/VS Code integration. Steps and functionality in other environments may vary!
If you would like to use the GitHub Codespace zero-install option that runs in a browser, skip to step 6. Otherwise, continue with step 3.
git clone https://github.com/skillrepos/cc-adv
Go to Get Started, choose the Terminal tab and proceed with installation for your desired platform.
Then install the Python lab dependencies from the repo root:
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
(ideally inside a virtual environment).
If in the terminal integration, change into your cloned directory and you can likely follow the directions in STARTUP.md to complete this task. Otherwise, consult the online documentation.
STOP HERE if NOT using the GitHub Codespace environment.
Directions for GitHub Codespace environment setup follow.
While logged in to GitHub, go to https://github.com/settings/codespaces. Set the default idle timeout to a larger value (like 90 minutes or more) so your codespace doesn't stop during lecture segments.
From the repo page at https://github.com/skillrepos/cc-adv, click the green Code button, choose the Codespaces tab, and create a codespace on main. Give it a few minutes to build — the container installs Claude Code, creates a Python virtual environment, and installs the lab dependencies automatically.
Click here ------> 
Open the terminal in the codespace and follow the steps in STARTUP.md.
app/ Flask to-do API — the analysis target for several labs
(4 of its behavior tests fail BY DESIGN — that's lab material)
sdk/ Agent SDK skeletons for Lab 4 (diff-merge with extra/)
mcpserver/ MCP server skeleton for the Lab 5 capstone (diff-merge with extra/)
extra/ Completed versions of skeleton files + environment config
labs.md THE lab document — follow this during the workshop
outline.md Course outline
pip: command not found— usepython3 -m pip ...instead.ModuleNotFoundError: flask(ormcp,claude_agent_sdk) — runpython3 -m pip install -r requirements.txtfrom the repo root, or make sure the.venvis activated (new terminals in the codespace activate it automatically).- A skeleton file prints "still the skeleton" — the diff-merge didn't complete or the file wasn't saved. Re-open the diff, confirm no highlighted differences remain, and save the right-hand file.
Materials in this repository are for educational use only by attendees of our workshops.
(c) 2026 Tech Skills Transformations and Brent C. Laster. All rights reserved.