Tools & Models

Claude models, MCP servers, IDE integrations, and the wider agentic coding ecosystem.

Agentic coding requires a toolchain, not just a model. The model is the engine, but you also need context servers (MCP), IDE integrations, build tools, and deployment pipelines that work together.

Claude’s model lineup has three tiers: Haiku for cheap, fast tasks like documentation and summaries. Sonnet for standard coding work — it’s the workhorse. Opus for deep reasoning like architecture decisions and complex debugging. Knowing when to use which model is a cost and quality decision that matters at scale.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers extend what Claude can access — Figma designs, databases, file systems, APIs. IDE integrations like the VS Code extension provide the development environment. And the wider ecosystem includes community tools, templates, and patterns that are evolving fast.

These guides cover the practical side of tooling: what to use, when, and how to configure it for real work.