Staging environment

Claude for Builders

James Gray

UC Berkeley AI Instructor | ex CIO/CPO

This course is popular

5 people enrolled last week.

Build AI-powered solutions across the Claude platform

The agentic era rewards builders. Become one.

You've mastered Claude for one-off prompts. The people pulling away aren't prompting harder — they're building AI systems that run without them. Your best workflows stay trapped in your head. Ideas wait on engineering. You can see where AI belongs, but not which workflows really fit or how to wire it all together. And you can't lead AI without hands-on credibility.

In 5 weeks using the Claude Platform — Chat, Cowork, Code — you'll:

✅ Operate your business from a unified AI command center

✅ Delegate recurring work to custom skills, agents, and plugins you build yourself

✅ Classify any workflow by autonomy and oversight to design the right AI

✅ Turn any painful workflow into a working AI system with a methodical 7-step approach

✅ Build with the right pattern for each job — a prompt, a skill, or a full agent

✅ Ship a working web app prototype to a live URL

This isn't tips and tricks — it's a systematic method, honed training 5,000+ leaders at UC Berkeley and a decade leading at Microsoft. Small cohorts, 1:1 coaching, lifetime access. We build together, not lecture. Cohort 1 rated 4.8/5.

What you’ll learn

Master the complete Claude platform — Claude.ai, Desktop, Code, and Cowork — to design AI workflows and ship web applications.

  • Connect Claude.ai, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cowork, and GitHub through MCP so every tool shares your data and context.

  • Configure Claude Projects, CLAUDE.md instructions, and voice-to-text so your stack matches how you actually think and work.

  • You'll leave with a fully connected builder stack — ready to run real work across every tool from day one.

  • Classify any workflow by how much the AI decides and whether a human steers — the two dimensions behind every AI system.

  • Pick the right design for each case — from deterministic automations with fixed rules to agents that run in the background.

  • You'll leave with a decision framework to design the right AI for any future workflow — and avoid wasted effort on mismatched approaches.

  • Audit your recurring work to find the highest-value workflows — the ones where AI will actually move the business.

  • Apply a 7-step method to go from "this workflow is painful" to "AI is running it in production" without getting stuck.

  • You'll leave with a living workflow registry in Notion and a repeatable method you can apply to every future workflow.

  • Work through the three building blocks behind every AI workflow — single-shot prompts, skills, and full agents.

  • Match each workflow to the simplest pattern that works — because agents aren't always the answer, and complexity costs speed.

  • You'll leave with workflows built across all three patterns and the judgment to pick the right one for any use case.

  • Package your repeatable work as custom skills, agents, and commands, then install them as plugins in Claude Code and Cowork.

  • Schedule and trigger workflows so your AI runs recurring tasks while you focus on higher-leverage work.

  • You'll leave with a plugin library of your own skills and agents — automating hours of recurring work every week.

  • Turn a business idea into a vision brief, then an implementation-ready PRD with user stories and acceptance criteria.

  • Run the full agentic coding loop — plan, implement, verify, review, ship — using Claude Code plugins and code review.

  • You'll leave with a deployed prototype on a live URL and a repeatable agentic coding workflow for every future idea.

Learn directly from James

Explore more from this school
James Gray

James Gray

UC Berkeley AI Instructor | Former CIO/CPO | Trained 5,000+ Leaders

Worked at and clients
Microsoft
UC Berkeley
Capital One
Google
Amazon

Who this course is for

  • Operational Leader: Leaders building AI systems for their teams—creating reusable assets that scale expertise across the organization.

  • Builder-Founder: Founders and solopreneurs who prototype fast, automate operations, and ship AI-powered products without engineers.

  • AI-First Professional: Professionals building the systems, skills, and workflows that put AI at the center of how they create value.

Prerequisites

  • You have a Claude paid subscription.

    Skills, Projects, and advanced features require a paid plan. Free tier won't work for this course.

  • You can install software on your computer.

    You'll install Claude Code and browser extensions. Work computers with admin restrictions may be an issue.

  • You have GitHub, Cursor or VS Code, and Chrome installed.

    All free. GitHub manages AI assets, the editor runs Claude Code, Chrome enables browser automation. Setup guided in Week 1.

What's included

James Gray

Live sessions

Learn directly from James Gray in a real-time, interactive format.

Personalized 1:1 coaching

Get direct feedback and support to unblock and accelerate building out your workflows

Private Slack community

Get quick support, share work, and collaborate with peers throughout the course.

Office hours

Optional weekend sessions for catch-up, Q&A, and hands-on troubleshooting.

Production-ready assets

Leave with 5+ Skills, 3+ Subagents, browser automations, and a working prototype—not just theory.

Lifetime access

All recordings, resources, and project files stay available. Content updated monthly as Claude evolves.

Monthly Builder Forum

Continue learning after the course with a private LinkedIn Group featuring live sessions on the latest Claude developments.

Maven Guarantee

Your purchase is backed by the Maven Guarantee.

Course syllabus

40 live sessions • 51 lessons • 9 projects

Week 1

Apr 13—Apr 19

    Session 1: Agentic AI Foundations & Workflow Identification

    • Apr

      13

      Claude for Builders - Session 1 - Americas & Europe

      Mon 4/132:00 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)
    • Apr

      13

      Claude for Builders - Session 1 - Americas & Asia-Pacific

      Mon 4/1311:00 PM—1:00 AM (UTC)

    Assess Agentic Fundamentals and Workflow Opportunities

    4 items

    Session (Optional): Claude Builder Stack Set Up

    • Apr

      14

      Optional: Claude + Builder Tools Setup

      Tue 4/145:00 PM—6:00 PM (UTC)
    • Apr

      15

      Optional: Claude + Builder Tools Setup

      Wed 4/1512:15 AM—1:15 AM (UTC)
      Optional

    Configure Your Claude Builder Stack

    7 items

    Session 2: Workflow Deconstruction

    • Apr

      15

      Claude for Builders - Session 2 - Americas & Europe

      Wed 4/152:00 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)
    • Apr

      15

      Claude for Builders - Session 2 - Americas & Asia-Pacific

      Wed 4/1511:00 PM—1:00 AM (UTC)

    Deconstruct Your Workflows

    3 items

    Optional: Office Hours + 1:1 Personalized Coaching

    • Apr

      16

      Optional: Claude Live Q&A

      Thu 4/165:00 PM—5:30 PM (UTC)
      Optional
    • Apr

      17

      Optional: Claude Live Q&A

      Fri 4/1712:15 AM—12:45 AM (UTC)
      Optional
    1 more item

Week 2

Apr 20—Apr 26

    Session 3: Claude Skills

    • Apr

      20

      Claude for Builders - Session 3 - Americas & Europe

      Mon 4/202:00 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)
    • Apr

      20

      Claude for Builders - Session 3 - Americas & Asia-Pacific

      Mon 4/2011:00 PM—1:00 AM (UTC)

    Build Agent Skills

    5 items

    Session 4: Deterministic & Collaborative AI Workflows

    • Apr

      22

      Claude for Builders - Session 4 - Americas & Europe

      Wed 4/222:00 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)
    • Apr

      22

      Claude for Builders - Session 4 - Americas & Asia-Pacific

      Wed 4/2211:00 PM—1:00 AM (UTC)

    Master Prompt and Context Engineering

    4 items

    Build Collaborative AI Workflows

    2 items

    Build Deterministic AI Workflows

    3 items

    Optional: Office Hours + 1:1 Personalized Coaching

    • Apr

      21

      Optional: Claude Live Q&A

      Tue 4/215:00 PM—5:30 PM (UTC)
      Optional
    • Apr

      22

      Optional: Claude Live Q&A

      Wed 4/2212:15 AM—12:45 AM (UTC)
      Optional
    • Apr

      23

      Optional: Claude Live Q&A

      Thu 4/235:00 PM—5:30 PM (UTC)
      Optional
    • Apr

      24

      Optional: Claude Live Q&A

      Fri 4/2412:15 AM—12:45 AM (UTC)
      Optional
    1 more item

Free resources

Schedule

Live sessions

3-4 hrs / week

    • Mon, Apr 13

      2:00 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)

    • Mon, Apr 13

      11:00 PM—1:00 AM (UTC)

    • Tue, Apr 14

      5:00 PM—6:00 PM (UTC)

Projects

1-2 hrs / week

Async content

1 hr / week

Frequently asked questions