Though I had dabbled with various AI tools like Google Gemini and ChatGPT I had yet to give a fully fledged coding agent like Claude a proper try. Being a web developer for over 15 years, working primarily with Vue and Laravel, I was curious how it would hold up across both my professional work and side projects. I downloaded the desktop client, set it up with a few repos and started putting it through its paces.
A few months in, I can say there is no turning back. Below are some honest thoughts on the experience so far.
In my professional work with Vue and Laravel, I still do a lot manually. After so many years with these tools, and because so much of web development (particularly on the Laravel API side) follows cookie cutter patterns, it's often faster to just go in and make a few tweaks by hand than to go through Claude. But where it earns its keep is in the repetitive boilerplate. Need a new route stubbed out with controllers, requests and validation following an existing pattern? Just tell it to follow the xyz setup but without filters and it handles it. It's not dramatically faster than a quick copy/paste and find-replace, but typing a command and waiting is definitely simpler. It's also great for tasks such as refactoring, setting up test cases, and working on custom validation rules where I can just explain what I need in plain English.
Where Claude really changes things is side projects and evening work. I can get a lot done after my professional hours even when I'm tired. Normally, this would require a lot more will power. Don't get me wrong, I'm not vibe coding on autopilot here. I review every line of code it produces carefully and refactor when necessary, which admittedly can be quite often. Instead of tediously typing away for hours at a time I can take a quick break, walk around and start thinking about the next task.
I still think about the code a lot though, and have Claude set up as a code assist rather than an autopilot. I don't let it touch my Git repo and I have strict rules in the CLAUDE.md to prevent it from implementing code without an explicit go-ahead (though it still ignores these more than I would like). My general workflow is task based. I work through my own thoughts via Claude summaries and feedback which may consist of quite a few corrections and alterations. When I'm satisfied I let Claude implement. If it produces working code that is at least 80% good enough, I commit at that point. If refactoring is needed, I find it's better to see the changes in isolation rather than mess with what's already working, since Claude can really go haywire at times. Being able to just revert and start with a fresh session is important.
For planning, it's useful when you already know what you need to do. It can summarize the task, flag anything that needs attention and ask solid follow up questions. But I wouldn't rely on it for architectural decisions. When I've presented it with a design problem I'm unsure about, it tends to look at the existing code, latch onto keywords in the prompt, and just agree with whatever direction I'm leaning. It won't challenge your thinking or suggest something genuinely different. For that kind of problem solving, I still prefer working through it myself or talking it out with another developer.
One thing worth noting for anyone doing client work. You have to be careful about code quality. Claude can produce sloppy code when the task is ambiguous, and if you're not reviewing carefully it will ship. I've caught it generating code that technically works but misses a cleaner solution that would have been obvious to any experienced developer. The output needs the same scrutiny you would give a junior developer's pull request. If you're billing clients for quality work, you can't skip the review.
In terms of actual productivity, I'd say it's roughly a 2X boost in raw output. The nature of the work shifts though. Less time writing code, more time planning and reviewing. Even though Claude can frustrate me at times, I find I have less mental fatigue over the course of a day and week. That alone makes it worth it when you're juggling multiple client projects. That said, I would argue a well-chosen framework like Laravel or Vue is still a bigger multiplier overall. There is already so much quality code working for you out of the box.
Would I recommend it to other freelancers? Yes, but with the caveat that it takes time to figure out where it helps and where it gets in the way. There is a feeling out curve. If you go in expecting it to just write your app for you, you'll be disappointed. If you treat it as a tool that handles the tedious parts while you focus on the decisions that matter, it's genuinely useful. After a few months it's become a core part of my workflow and I don't see myself going back.