How to learn Claude and Claude Code for free in 2026
Review of the official Claude courses from Anthropic
So you want to learn something about AI. Maybe you like Claude more than ChatGPT. Or maybe it’s a requirement at work.
I recommend checking out the official courses from Anthropic. They’re free, and you can even add them to your LinkedIn.
Anthropic currently has 22 free courses on Claude! That’s a lot! But which ones should you take? Which ones can you skip? I’ve completed most of them, so I do have something to say.
-
Claude 101: A decent overview for understanding what Claude can do. You will learn about Claude products (Chat, Cowork, Code) and get a grasp of what projects, skills, and tools are. At the end, you will understand how to use Claude depending on your current role.
-
Claude Code 101: More tech-oriented course. Here you will find out what the agentic loop is, context management, CLAUDE.md, agents and subagents, MCP servers, and hooks.
-
Claude Platform 101: More information about skills and tools, thinking mode. It also introduces patterns of context management. At the end of the course, you can find a step-by-step explanation of how to build a managed agent by yourself.
-
Introduction to Claude Cowork: Explanatory course on how to use Claude Cowork with various connectors and plugins (such as Microsoft 365). Pick it only if you plan to use Cowork extensively.
-
Claude Code in Action: More concrete examples, working modes, and implementing hooks.
-
AI Fluency - Framework and Foundations: Anthropic’s mental model for working with AI. I really liked the 4D framework that was introduced in the course. It’s more about how to think about using AI tools, not only Claude.
-
Building with Claude API: Probably the most valuable material on working with Claude through the API. The course is huge, but it’s worth its time 100%! Here you will start with simple requests to the Anthropic SDK via the Python SDK and explore various ways to use this API (streaming, batching, etc.). Other topics are evals, tools, RAGs, MCPs, agents, and workflows. By the way, the lecturer is Stephen Grider, known for his Udemy stuff.
-
Introduction to Model Context Protocol: This course seems like a subset of “Building with Claude API” - but dedicated to MCPs. So if you’ve already taken the previous one, you can skip this one. Interesting parts: working with MCP resources, creating and testing MCP prompts.
-
Model Context Protocol - Advanced Topics: A deeper dive into the topic Model Context Protocols. Interesting parts: sampling, roots, transport protocols, and state management.
-
Claude with Amazon Bedrock: Starting with the slides on integrating Claude with AWS, the rest of the course seems like a copy of “Building with Claude API”. There’s some interesting material on RAG.
-
Claude on Google Cloud: Starting with the slides on integrating Claude with GCP. The rest is a copy of “Building with Claude API”. There’s some interesting material on routing workflows.
-
Introduction to agent skills: Very basic intro on agents. You can take it or just ask Claude directly.
-
Introduction to subagents: Very basic intro on subagents. You can take it or just ask Claude directly.
The rest of the courses are connected to AI Fluency: AI Fluency for Educators, AI Fluency for Students, Teaching AI Fluency, AI Fluency for nonprofits, AI Capabilities and Limitations, AI Fluency for Small Businesses, AI Fluency for Builders, AI Fluency for pK-12 Educators. Choose them only if you want to cover a specific case. Those courses are not part of any certification path for now.
| Course | Usefulness | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Claude 101 | ⭐⭐ | Part of Claude Architect preparation |
| Claude Code 101 | ⭐⭐ | Nice intro |
| Introduction to Claude Cowork | ⭐ | Situational |
| Claude Platform 101 | ⭐ | Situational |
| Claude Code in Action | ⭐⭐ | Part of Claude Architect preparation |
| Building with the Claude API | ⭐⭐⭐ | Part of Claude Architect preparation |
| Introduction to Model Context Protocol | ⭐ | Part of Claude Architect preparation |
| Model Context Protocol: Advanced Topics | ⭐⭐ | If you want to know more about MCP |
| Claude with Amazon Bedrock | ⭐⭐ | Part of Claude Architect preparation |
| Claude with Google Cloud’s Vertex AI | ⭐⭐ | Part of Claude Architect preparation |
| Introduction to subagents | ⭐ | Good first glance |
| Introduction to agent skills | ⭐ | Good first glance |
| AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations | ⭐⭐ | Part of Claude Architect preparation |
| AI Capabilities and Limitations | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |
| AI Fluency for builders | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |
| AI Fluency for creative work | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |
| AI Fluency for educators | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |
| AI Fluency for pK–12 educators | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |
| AI Fluency for pK–12 Train the Trainer | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |
| AI Fluency for facilitators | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |
| AI Fluency for nonprofits | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |
| AI Fluency for small businesses | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |
| AI Fluency for students | ➖ Skip | Only if you’re the target audience. |