> Canonical: https://drkishanrees.com/learn/before-you-begin/

# What do I need to set up?

*The room, the folder and the habits a non-technical reader needs, using the Claude ecosystem as an example.*

Tools & Set Up. 5 min read.

First published 6 August 2026

You do not need to be technical to start building with AI. You need the right room, a folder of
your own, and three habits. This page is the room part; the habits are the primer.

## Chat, Cowork, Code: what is the difference?

Three rooms, one Claude. The difference is what Claude can reach, and how much it does between
your messages.

**Chat** is the conversation. You type, Claude answers; you paste things in, Claude reasons
about them. It can search the web, write documents, and build small interactive pages you can
see in the chat. What it cannot do is touch your files or your computer. Chat is where you
learn, plan, draft and ask every question you are embarrassed to ask a colleague. Start here.

**Cowork** is a colleague at your desk. It lives in the Claude desktop app, you point it at a
folder, and it works IN that folder: reading your documents, organising files, building
spreadsheets and reports, running longer multi-step jobs while you do something else. No
terminal, no code. If your project is "a folder of documents that needs work done to it",
Cowork is the room. (This very website began as a folder built in a Cowork session before a
line of its code existed.)

**Code** is the workshop. Claude Code is the builder's version: it lives in your project's
code, edits many files at once, runs the build, runs the checks, and shows you what changed.
It is the room where software actually gets made, and the one where the veracity habits matter
most, because the model can now do real work you must be able to verify. You can run it in a
terminal, in an editor, or from the desktop and web apps; the terminal is only one door.

A rule of thumb for the non-technical reader: **learn in Chat, work your documents in Cowork,
build your product in Code.** You will likely use all three in that order, and there is no
shame in staying in the first two rooms for months.

## What do I need to get started?

1. **A Claude account** (claude.ai). The free tier is a real start, not a demo.
2. **The desktop app** if you want Cowork, since that is where it works with your local files.
3. **A folder of your own for the project.** One folder, clearly named, everything in it. The
   single most useful non-technical habit on this site is that the project IS the folder, and
   the model is always pointed at it, never at your whole machine.
4. **A place to keep your record.** A notes file in that same folder is enough: what you asked
   for, what you approved, what you discarded and why, each with a date. The primer turns this
   into a discipline; on day one, a dated notes file is the whole of it.

## Can I do this on a free account?

You can start, honestly. Checked 25 July 2026:

- **Free** gives you Chat on web, phone and desktop, with web search, file creation and the
  interactive pages, under a usage budget that resets on a cycle. Claude Code and Cowork are
  not on the free tier.
- **Pro** (20 US dollars a month, less if billed annually) adds Claude Code AND Cowork, more
  usage, and the wider model choice. This is the tier where vibe coding properly begins,
  because it is the tier where Claude can reach your folder.
- **Max** (from 100 US dollars a month) is Pro with a bigger budget, five or twenty times the
  usage, for people building daily. You will know if you need it, because the weekly limit
  will tell you.

The honest sequencing: start free in Chat, and learn to write a good brief there, because a
good brief costs the same on every tier. Upgrade to Pro the week you have a real folder that
needs real work. Consider Max only when the limits interrupt you more than once a week.

## Where do the limits actually lie?

Every tier has a usage budget, and heavier models spend it faster. Three practical truths:

- **Limits arrive as a pause, not a wall.** Your budget replenishes on a cycle; plan sessions
  rather than marathons.
- **The budget rewards short, well-aimed prompts.** A vague prompt that needs five retries
  costs five times the clear one. The six-field brief in the primer is also a cost control.
- **The newest, largest models are the scarcest.** On paid tiers Claude offers a choice of
  models; use the strongest for judgement calls and design, the workhorse for routine
  execution. This is exactly how this site is built.

Numbers, names and tiers change often; this page states the prices once, keeps to shapes
everywhere else, and carries a last-reviewed date for exactly that reason.

## What should my first session actually be?

Open Chat, free tier, and bring one real thing: a document to improve, a plan to shape, a page
to draft. Ask for it with a goal, a scope and a way to verify ("rewrite this letter, keep it
under a page, keep every date and figure unchanged, list what you changed"). Read what comes
back the way you would read a colleague's work: gratefully, and checking every claim.

Here is one that costs you nothing. Say you have a page of rough notes from a meeting. Paste them in
and ask: "turn these into three clear action points, keep every name and date exactly as written,
and tell me anything that is ambiguous rather than guessing." What comes back is usable in seconds,
and your job is the veracity: check each action against the notes, and notice whether it flagged the
uncertain parts or quietly filled them in. That one exchange is the whole discipline in miniature.

That is vibe coding with veracity in one message, and everything after it is scale.

## Questions and answers

### What is the difference between Claude Chat, Cowork and Code?

Three rooms, one Claude. Chat is the conversation, for learning, planning and drafting; Cowork lives in the desktop app and works inside a folder of your documents; Claude Code lives in a project's code, edits files, runs the build and runs the checks. Learn in Chat, work your documents in Cowork, build your product in Code.

### Can I start vibe coding on a free account?

Yes, honestly. As checked on 25 July 2026, the free tier gives you Chat on web, phone and desktop with web search and file creation, under a usage budget; Claude Code and Cowork start on the paid tiers. Start free, learn to write a good brief, and upgrade the week you have a real folder that needs real work.

Cite as: Rees, Kishan. 'What do I need to set up?'. drkishanrees.com, first published 6 August 2026. https://drkishanrees.com/learn/before-you-begin/