May 18, 2026
What is a CLAUDE.md File and How to Use It the Right Way
When you claim an idea on Nicheloom, one of the first things you can do is click Generate CLAUDE.md. The file downloads, you open it, and — if you've never used Claude Code with the Superpowers plugin before — you might wonder what to do with it next.
This post explains exactly that. What the file is, where it fits in a proper AI-assisted development workflow, and the step-by-step process for going from CLAUDE.md to a shipped product using Subagent-Driven Development (SDD).
What the CLAUDE.md file actually is
CLAUDE.md is a spec document — not a coding file, not a config file, but a structured description of what you're building.
It contains the product overview, the recommended tech stack, the core features, the data model, the build order, and the development commands. Everything an AI coding tool needs to understand your product before writing a single line of code.
When you open Claude Code in a project directory, it reads CLAUDE.md automatically. The AI starts your session already knowing what you're building, what stack you're using, and what the data looks like — instead of you having to re-explain it every time.
But the CLAUDE.md alone isn't enough to start building. It's the beginning of a workflow, not the end of one.
The right workflow: Spec → Plan → Execute
The Superpowers plugin for Claude Code structures AI development around a four-stage chain. Each stage has a specific skill that drives it. Understanding where your CLAUDE.md fits in that chain is the key to using it effectively.
Stage 1: The spec (your CLAUDE.md)
In the standard Superpowers workflow, Stage 1 is brainstorming — you describe your idea, Claude asks clarifying questions, proposes approaches, and the result is a written spec document saved to docs/superpowers/specs/.
The CLAUDE.md Nicheloom generates is that spec. It's already been written for you, based on validated pain point research and market data from the platform. You skip the brainstorming stage and start with a spec in hand.
Your job at this stage: read it, make sure it matches what you want to build, and adjust anything that doesn't fit your vision.
Stage 2: The plan (writing-plans skill)
A spec describes what to build. A plan describes how to build it — step by step, file by file, test by test.
This is where the writing-plans skill comes in. You give Claude Code your CLAUDE.md as input, and it produces a detailed implementation plan saved to docs/superpowers/plans/. Every task in the plan has exact code, exact commands to run, and the expected output at each step. No vague instructions, no placeholders.
The plan is what you review before any code is written. This is the cheapest possible moment to catch a bad approach — reading a plan takes minutes, reversing a week of AI-generated code does not.
Stage 3: Execute with SDD (subagent-driven-development skill)
Once the plan is approved, the subagent-driven-development skill executes it. This is where the building actually happens.
For each task in the plan, a fresh AI subagent is dispatched with exactly the context it needs — the task spec, the relevant files, nothing else. No history from previous tasks, no accumulated context drift. After implementation, two review stages run automatically: a spec compliance check (did it build exactly what the plan said?) and a code quality check (is it well-written?). Issues get fixed before the next task starts.
The result is that each piece of your product gets built correctly and reviewed before the next piece begins.
Stage 4: Finish (finishing-a-development-branch skill)
After all tasks pass review, the finishing-a-development-branch skill wraps up — final verification, commit, deploy. Your feature is done.
Step by step: from CLAUDE.md to shipped
Here is the concrete sequence starting from your downloaded file.
Step 1: Set up your project
Create a new directory, put the CLAUDE.md in the root, and initialise a git repository:
mkdir my-saas
cd my-saas
mv ~/Downloads/CLAUDE.md .
git init
git add CLAUDE.md
git commit -m "init: add spec"
Step 2: Open Claude Code
claude
Claude Code reads the CLAUDE.md on startup. Your first message can be directly about the work.
Step 3: Write the implementation plan
Tell Claude to use the writing-plans skill with your CLAUDE.md as the spec:
"Use the writing-plans skill to create an implementation plan based on the CLAUDE.md spec in this project."
Claude will produce a plan broken into bite-sized tasks — each with exact code, exact test commands, and expected outputs. Review it carefully. This is your last checkpoint before code gets written.
Step 4: Execute the plan with SDD
Once you're happy with the plan:
"Use the subagent-driven-development skill to execute the plan."
Claude dispatches a fresh subagent for each task. Each one implements, gets reviewed for spec compliance, gets reviewed for code quality, and only then moves on. You watch progress without having to manage it.
Step 5: Ship
When all tasks are complete:
"Use the finishing-a-development-branch skill to wrap up."
Final checks run, the branch is committed, and you're ready to deploy.
Why this order matters
It's tempting to skip stages. The CLAUDE.md is right there — why not just tell Claude to start building from it directly?
The plan stage is the safeguard. When you write a plan from the spec, you force a translation from "what to build" to "how to build it." That translation surfaces ambiguities, ordering problems, and missing pieces before they become code. A spec can say "add billing" — a plan has to say exactly which files to create, in what order, with what tests.
Skipping the plan means the AI is making those decisions implicitly, in the middle of implementation, without review. The SDD workflow makes them explicit, in a document you've approved, before a line of code is written.
What the CLAUDE.md gives you that most developers don't have
Most solo founders start a new project with a vague idea and a blank src/ directory. They figure out the data model as they go, discover the wrong tech stack choice three weeks in, and build features in the wrong order because they didn't think through dependencies up front.
The Nicheloom CLAUDE.md starts you with a validated idea, a concrete technical direction, and a structured spec that feeds directly into a planning and execution workflow. The research has been done. The architecture has been thought through. The first decision you have to make is whether you agree with the spec — not where to begin.
That's the real value. Not the file itself, but what it enables: a clean entry into a workflow that takes you from idea to shipped product without the usual false starts.
To generate a CLAUDE.md for any idea on Nicheloom, open the idea detail page and click Generate CLAUDE.md in the action panel. Pair it with Claude Code and the Superpowers plugin to use the full SDD workflow described above.