Build Faster and Smarter with Claude Code for your Box SDK Projects

Today, Anthropic announced general availability for Claude Code, a powerful new CLI-based code generation tool that developers can utilize to enhance their productivity. We're taking a look at how Claude Code can accelerate project timelines when working with Box APIs and developer tools. 

AI is moving beyond assistance to active, intelligent collaboration that is quickly revolutionizing how developers build applications. The core challenge for developers today isn't just writing code, but writing impactful code that securely leverages enterprise data. Explore how you can use Claude Code to improve your development workflows, reduce time to a proof-of-concept, or even reach a production-ready application that leverages intelligent and secure content from Box more efficiently.

Claude Code with Box: From complex prompts to production-ready solutions

Developers need tools that don't just generate snippets, but understand intent, reference best practices, and accelerate the path to production-grade applications. Claude Code directly addresses these needs. It excels at thinking deeply about code generation, referencing documentation and community knowledge to produce accurate outputs.

When you use Claude Code in conjunction with your Box development projects, you can:

• Accelerate the creation of Box SDK-based applications: Guide Claude Code by providing detailed product requirements, context (such as links to the Box developer site or specific SDK examples), and breaking down complex projects into logical, manageable chunks. This structured approach allows Claude Code to generate the application code for interacting with Box.
• Automate complex content workflows: For more intricate processes, such as an insurance claims system, you can outline the business logic and have Claude Code assist in scripting the necessary interactions with Box APIs and content.
• Explore and implement advanced Box functionalities: Move beyond basic file uploads and downloads. Leverage Claude Code's assistance to script sophisticated Box SDK use cases like metadata extraction, automated document generation, the creation of custom workflow scripts, and more.

The advantages of using Claude Code for AI-driven development with Box

While Claude Code offers standalone power, using it to build applications that interact with Box can unlock distinct advantages for enterprise development:

• Secure access to your content: Continue to develop with the confidence that your code, even if AI-assisted in its generation, operates within Box's enterprise-grade security and compliance framework when interacting with the Box platform.
• Contextual understanding of Box APIs & SDKs: By providing Claude Code with links to the relevant Box developer documentation and specific code examples, it can better understand the nuances of developing on the Box platform, leading to more efficient and accurate code for Box-specific tasks.
• Rapid prototyping and deployment: Go from idea to a Box-integrated application faster by letting AI handle foundational coding for interacting with your enterprise content. 

Intelligent document generation with Claude Code and Box Doc Gen

Generating custom documents at scale such as reports and contracts is often a significant pain point for enterprises, consuming valuable developer time and resources. However, in our demo, we showcased how you can efficiently build a backend contract generation tool using Box Doc Gen and Claude Code.

Here are the steps for a developer:

1. Setup: A Box Doc Gen template and a Box Custom Application were configured within the Box environment. The developer had Claude Code installed and ready on their local machine.
2. Project initialization: Working within a common developer environment like VS Code, the developer started a new project with Claude Code. This initialization step created essential project files, including a claude.md markdown file. This file is crucial as it provides Claude Code with the necessary context and instructions for the entire application build process.
3. Defining application requirements: The developer then prompted Claude Code to generate a Product Requirements Document (PRD). This prompt was highly specific, detailing the desired functionalities of the contract generation tool, its limitations, and providing direct links to relevant Box developer documentation and SDK examples to inform Claude Code. Claude Code processed this information, produced a comprehensive PRD, and updated the claude.md file to reflect this plan.
4. Structuring the build: To manage the development effectively, the detailed PRD was then broken down into smaller, logical tasks or "chunks." The developer instructed Claude Code on how to approach these tasks, utilizing recommended prompting techniques, such as structuring the prompts clearly to define instructions and context for the AI.
5. Iterative code generation: Following these structured prompts, the developer guided Claude Code through each chunk, iteratively building out the application's codebase.
6. Deployment: Once all the development chunks were completed with Claude Code's assistance, the application was run. It successfully generated a new NDA document directly within the Box platform.

This demo powerfully illustrated the speed and accessibility Claude Code brings to development. A developer was able to go from an initial concept to a fully functional application generating documents in Box in about 30 minutes, drastically reducing the usual development timeline of several days, all without requiring deep, upfront knowledge of the Box API.

Best practices for prompting Claude Code with Box

To get the best results when using Claude Code for your Box development projects, clear and specific prompting is key. The more context and precision you provide, the better Claude Code can understand your requirements and generate accurate, useful code.

• Be explicit with versions and methods: Don't just say "use the Box SDK." Specify the exact version if it's critical (e.g., "I want to use version 3.x of the Box Python SDK"). Similarly, for authentication, be precise: "My application will use Client Credentials Grant authorization. Here is the exact code snippet I use for token exchange..." rather than pointing to a general folder of auth examples.
• Provide direct links and snippets: When referencing Box documentation or your existing code, provide direct links to the specific pages or exact code snippets that are relevant. 
• Detailed product requirements: As shown in the demo, investing time in creating a detailed PRD upfront, outlining what the application should and shouldn't do, provides a strong foundation for Claude Code.
• Chunk large tasks: For complex applications, break down the overall goal into smaller, logical steps or features. This makes it easier for Claude Code to process and reduces the chance of errors or omissions, mirroring how a human developer would tackle a large project.
• Leverage Claude's prompting guides: Utilize recommended structures, like the XML tags for instructions, context, and roles, as highlighted in Anthropic's own documentation (see their Prompt engineering overview), to help Claude Code better understand the task at hand.

Start building with Claude Code on Box today

Experience the power of Claude Code with Box. Begin generating code and automating workflows by leveraging this tool alongside the Box APIs and SDKs. For detailed guidance on Box functionalities, see our Box developer documentation and refer to the Anthropic developer documentation for specifics on Claude Code. With specific instructions and a clear understanding of your project's needs, you can significantly speed up your time to production, going from idea to a working application with very little investment in terms of time and money. Elevate your enterprise development by exploring how Claude Code can intelligently complement your work with Box.