Practical Guide to Team Collaboration with Claude Code

Claude Code shines for solo developers, but its impact multiplies when adopted across a team. This article covers settings, conventions, and workflow tips you should know when using Claude Code as a team.

1. Make CLAUDE.md a Shared Team Standard

The single most important thing is sharing the project root CLAUDE.md across the whole team. Commit it to Git so every member uses Claude Code with the same context.

# Project Conventions

## Tech Stack
- TypeScript 5.4
- Next.js 15
- Prisma + PostgreSQL

## Coding Conventions
- Use async/await (avoid Promise.then)
- Use absolute imports (@/...)
- Tests in Vitest

## Naming Rules
- Components: PascalCase
- Hooks: useXxx
- Constants: SCREAMING_SNAKE

## PR Rules
- 1 PR = 1 feature
- Coverage 80%+

This alone ensures every team member uses Claude Code with the same direction. See CLAUDE.md Best Practices for more.

2. Separate Personal and Team Settings

Use .claude/settings.json for team-shared and .claude/settings.local.json for personal config.

.claude/
├── settings.json          # Team-shared (committed)
└── settings.local.json    # Personal (.gitignored)

Example settings.json:

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "Bash(npm run *)",
      "Bash(npm test)",
      "Bash(git diff)",
      "Bash(git status)"
    ],
    "deny": [
      "Bash(rm -rf *)",
      "Bash(git push --force)"
    ]
  },
  "hooks": {
    "PostToolUse": [
      {
        "matcher": "Edit|Write",
        "hooks": [
          { "type": "command", "command": "npx prettier --write $CLAUDE_FILE_PATH" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Add this to .gitignore:

.claude/settings.local.json

3. Automate PR Reviews

Combining GitHub Actions with Claude Code gets you automatic reviews on every PR.

name: Claude Auto Review
on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
  review:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: Install Claude Code
        run: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
      - name: Run review
        env:
          ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        run: |
          gh pr diff ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} | \
            claude -p "Review for security, performance, and readability. Flag issues."

This dramatically reduces human reviewer load and shortens PR merge time.

4. Share Prompt Templates

Centralize team prompts in .claude/prompts/ so anyone can use them instantly.

.claude/prompts/
├── code-review.md
├── refactor-function.md
├── write-test.md
└── update-docs.md

Example code-review.md:

Review this file for:
1. Possible bugs
2. Security risks
3. Performance issues
4. Naming and readability
5. Test coverage

Report issues with severity (high/medium/low).

Members invoke them via claude < .claude/prompts/code-review.md.

5. Automate Onboarding

Claude Code makes onboarding new members much smoother.

claude -p "
Explain this project's structure. Focus on:
- Directory layout
- Main tech stack
- Dev flow (local run, test, deploy)
- Pitfalls to watch

Write it as an onboarding doc for new members.
"

You get a day-1 orientation document in seconds. See Subagent Patterns for related techniques.

6. Standardize Commit Messages

If your team uses Conventional Commits, add this to CLAUDE.md.

## Commit Message Convention
All commit messages follow Conventional Commits.

Format: type(scope): subject

type:
- feat: new feature
- fix: bug fix
- docs: documentation
- style: formatting
- refactor: refactoring
- test: tests
- chore: other

Example: feat(auth): implement JWT refresh tokens

Claude Code will then automatically generate messages in this format.

7. Share Knowledge Across the Team

Collect “prompts that work” and “things that bit us” in your team’s docs. Notion, Confluence, internal wiki—anything works.

Example tips:

• /clear is full reset, /compact is summarize. Long sessions favor /compact
• Delegate large file exploration to subagents for speed
• When tests fail, paste the error log directly

Conclusion

• Unify team conventions in CLAUDE.md
• Separate personal and shared settings
• Automate PR reviews with GitHub Actions
• Share prompt templates
• Automate onboarding with Claude Code
• Standardize commit messages
• Accumulate knowledge as a team

Evolving Claude Code from “personal tool” to “team weapon” multiplies your dev speed several times over. See the Anthropic Claude Code docs for more.