How to Set Up Claude Code for a Project with Skills, Agents, Hooks, and a Secure GitHub Repository
How to Set Up Claude Code for a Project with Skills, Agents, Hooks, and a Secure GitHub Repository AI coding tools work best when they understand the project around the code. A fresh Claude Code session can answer questions and edit files, but it does not automatically know your architecture decisions, coding standards, security expectations, testing rules, pull request format, or operational constraints. That context needs to live somewhere predictable. This guide walks through a full Claude Code project setup using a reusable repository owned by desertfox33 : Reference repository: https://github.com/desertfox33/claude-code-project-template The goal is not just to create folders. The goal is to make Claude Code behave consistently across real project work: reviewing code, writing tests, preparing pull requests, checking security concerns, and following project-specific rules. Before using this setup in a production environment, verify current Claude Code behavior against the latest official documentation. Tooling, configuration names, and feature behavior can change. What We Are Building The repository uses this structure: claude-code-project-template/ ├── CLAUDE.md ├── CLAUDE.local.md.example ├── AGENTS.md ├── .mcp.example.json ├── .gitignore ├── SECURITY.md ├── CONTRIBUTING.md ├── .github/ │ ├── CODEOWNERS │ ├── dependabot.yml │ └── pull_request_template.md ├── .claude/ │ ├── settings.json │ ├── settings.local.json.example │ ├── rules/ │ │ ├── code-style.md │ │ ├── api-conventions.md │ │ ├── testing-standard.md │ │ └── pr.md │ ├── commands/ │ │ ├── review.md │ │ ├── deploy.md │ │ ├── scaffold.md │ │ ├── test.md │ │ └── pr.md │ ├── skills/ │ │ ├── code-review/ │ │ │ ├── SKILL.md │ │ │ └── review-checklist.md │ │ ├── testing-patterns/ │ │ │ ├── SKILL.md │ │ │ └── test-strategy.md │ │ ├── pr-description/ │ │ │ ├── SKILL.md │ │ │ └── template.md │ │ └── security-review/ │ │ └── SKILL.md │ ├── agents/ │ │ ├── security-reviewer.md │ │ ├── test-writer.md │ │ └── researc