Claude Code is a powerful CLI tool from Anthropic that integrates Claude directly into your development workflow. When working with ActorCore, you can enhance Claude’s understanding of the codebase by providing project-specific context.
Setting Up CLAUDE.md for ActorCore
The CLAUDE.md
file serves as a memory file for Claude Code, containing important information about your project that persists between sessions.
To set up an effective CLAUDE.md
file for ActorCore:
Create file
Create a CLAUDE.md
file in your project root
Add content
Paste the template into CLAUDE.md
Verify it works
Run Claude Code and ask a simple question like What lifecycle hook is used when an actor is first created?
to confirm it’s reading your CLAUDE.md file correctly
Example Commands for ActorCore
Here are some useful ways to leverage Claude Code with ActorCore:
Understand the Codebase
# Get an overview of ActorCore's architecture
claude "explain the architecture of ActorCore and how the different topologies work"
# Understand how actors communicate
claude "explain how actors communicate with each other in the coordinate topology"
# Learn about specific concepts
claude "explain the lifecycle hooks for actors and when each one is called"
Find Relevant Code
# Find implementations of specific components
claude "find the files that implement the Redis driver"
# Locate examples of specific patterns
claude "show me examples of RPC methods in the codebase"
# Understand actor state management
claude "explain how actor state is persisted between restarts"
Add New Features
# Create a new actor implementation
claude "help me create a new actor for managing user sessions"
# Add authentication to an actor
claude "show me how to add authentication to my actor's _onBeforeConnect method"
# Implement error handling
claude "help me implement proper error handling for my actor's RPC methods"
Debug Issues
# Diagnose connection problems
claude "my actor connections are dropping, help me debug why"
# Fix state persistence issues
claude "my actor state isn't persisting between restarts, what could be wrong?"
# Address scaling problems
claude "my actors are using too much memory, how can I optimize them?"
Additional Resources