I used Claude Code for 30 days at $2/month. Here's my honest take.

Everyone's writing Claude Code tutorials. Hot takes. Hype pieces.

I wanted to write something different: an honest 30-day review from someone who actually uses it daily, without a $20/month Claude Pro subscription.

The setup

I've been running Claude Code against the SimplyLouie API (https://api.simplylouie.com) instead of Anthropic's direct endpoint. Same Claude Sonnet model. Same capabilities. $2/month flat instead of $20/month.

Here's the base config in .claude/settings.json:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.simplylouie.com",
    "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "your-simplylouie-key"
  }
}

Total cost over 30 days: $2. That's it.

What actually works well

Refactoring large files. This is where Claude Code genuinely shines. Give it a 400-line function with unclear responsibilities and ask it to break it down. The output is usually cleaner than what I'd write from scratch.

# I run this constantly
claude "refactor auth.js — extract validation logic, keep the same external interface, add JSDoc"

Results: 9/10. This is the killer use case.

Writing tests for existing code. I give it a file and ask for unit tests. Coverage went from 34% to 78% on our core API routes in about 2 hours of prompting.

claude "write Jest tests for routes/users.js — focus on edge cases, mock the DB layer"

Results: 8/10. Occasional hallucinated method names, but easy to catch.

Explaining what code does. Onboarding new devs on a legacy codebase? claude "explain what this auth flow does and where it could fail" is legitimately better than most comments.

Results: 10/10. No caveats.

What doesn't work (honest)

Complex multi-file changes. Claude Code loses context across files. If your refactor touches 8 files with interdependencies, it'll often break something in file 6 while fixing file 3.

My workaround: scope it smaller. One module at a time. Always review the diff.

Architecture decisions. It'll confidently recommend patterns that don't fit your stack. It told me to use Redis pub/sub for a problem where a simple DB poll would have been fine.

Rule: use it for implementation, not architecture.

Anything that requires knowing your production environment. It doesn't know your DB schema, your team's conventions, your deployment constraints — unless you tell it explicitly in CLAUDE.md.

# CLAUDE.md
## Our stack
- Node.js 20, Express 4, PostgreSQL 15
- We use snake_case for DB columns, camelCase in JS
- All DB queries go through /lib/db.js — never import pg directly
- Test with: npm test (Jest, no --watch in CI)

Once I added this file, the quality jumped noticeably.

The $2/month question

People always ask: "Is the $20/month Claude Pro worth it?"

For pure Claude Code usage: no. Claude Code is a CLI tool that calls the API. You don't need the web interface, the Projects feature, or the increased context that Pro gives you for the chat product.

The API proxy approach (SimplyLouie or similar) gives you the same model for a fraction of the price.

The only reason to keep Pro: if you use claude.ai heavily for non-coding tasks alongside Code. For pure coding workflows, $2/month is sufficient.

The honest verdict

Claude Code is genuinely useful. It's not magic. It makes you faster at implementation tasks, sometimes annoying at architecture tasks.

After 30 days I'm still using it. That's the real signal — not the hype, not the hot takes. Just a tool that stays in my workflow.

If you want to try it without the $20/month commitment: SimplyLouie is $2/month, 7-day free trial, no card required until you're sure.

Honest takes only.

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What's your 30-day verdict on Claude Code? Drop it in the comments — I'm genuinely curious where others draw the line on what it's good for.