An empty editor for 20 surfaces is a reference work, not a starting point. The row above the editor in Config Studio for Claude Code has three shortcuts that give you something to change instead of something to invent: This machine, Read in a setup and Starter packs.
Tell it what this machine has
Open This machine. The page cannot see your computer, and it does not guess. Instead it shows one read-only command, in full, for you to run in a terminal and paste the output back.
With the answer, the plan adapts: generated scripts switch to a language that is actually installed, and settings that depend on the machine get a verdict. For example, turning on the sandbox on a machine where it cannot start protects nothing, and the studio says so there instead of letting you find out a week later.
Do this first if you plan to install on a server or a colleague's laptop. It turns "why does this not work" into a warning you see before you install.
Read in the setup you already have
If you already use Claude Code, you have a setup. Read in a setup reads a .claude folder into the editor: your ~/.claude, or a project's .claude.
The files are read in your browser. There is no upload and no server to upload to. Once read, your existing rules, settings, CLAUDE.md, agents, skills and MCP servers fill the editors, so you change what you have instead of starting over. Hooks and a status line script are kept as they are, because a script you wrote does not turn back into a recipe. The result lists every file it read and where each one went.
The Permissions and Settings editors write ~/.claude/settings.json, which applies to every project. Read in a project's .claude/settings.json and its rules land there, and the result says so.
Apply a starter pack
Starter packs fill in several surfaces at once. Each says what it does and what it risks: packs that only read have no risk badge, packs that write files say so. Some examples:
| Pack | What it does |
|---|---|
| Seatbelts | It cannot do the handful of things you would not forgive |
| Fewer interruptions | It stops asking about the things you always say yes to |
| Tidy code | It formats what it edits, and hears about it when it broke the types |
| Tell me when it needs me | A desktop notification when it is waiting, and when it finishes |
| Know where I am | Every session and prompt starts knowing the state of your repository |
| Careful with keys | A prompt that looks like it contains a credential is refused before it is sent |
| Good looking | A status line with branch, context, spend and model |
| Know what it costs | The spend is on screen while you work |
| Write it down | A CLAUDE.md with the sections that earn their place |
There are also four profiles for a whole posture: standard development, confidential project, infrastructure repository, and unattended and CI. Some packs ask for your language (JavaScript, Python, Go or Rust) so, for example, the formatter is the one your code uses.
Change what the pack set
A pack fills in the same fields you would have filled by hand. That means everything it sets is something you can see and change. Apply Seatbelts, then open Permissions: the rules it added are there, in the never list, and you can remove one or add your own.
A pack's permission lists replace the ones on the page rather than adding to them: a profile is a position, not an addition. Before you apply one, the studio names the pack it would overwrite and any list you filled in yourself that it would replace.
Combine them
A good first setup for most people:
- Read in a setup if you have one
- Apply Seatbelts, or Fewer interruptions if you would rather be asked less (both set the permission lists, so the second replaces the first's)
- Apply Tell me when it needs me if you work in other windows while Claude Code runs
Nothing is written yet. Open Changes to see the files this would produce.
The next lesson goes deep into the surface every setup starts with: permissions.