How to set up user onboarding with Claude Code without a developer
A complete first-session flow with Claude Code — welcome, guided first action, getting-started list — built from three Clew items that follow the user through the app instead of one long tour on page load.
- Time
- ● 40 minutes
- Price
- Tours free · rest 14-day trial
- Who does it
- You and Claude Code
Example: user onboarding with Claude Code
An invoicing SaaS maintained with Claude Code. Welcome modal on /invoices, a tour of /invoices/new, and a checklist on the second visit for users who haven’t sent an invoice.
The product tour part is free on the Free plan (up to 3 published). The Modal, Checklist and audience rules are part of Pro: every new account gets a 14-day trial with everything included, no card. When the trial ends nothing is deleted and published items keep showing.
How to set up user onboarding with Claude Code, step by step
- Step 01
Copy your Clew snippet
Create a free account (or sign in), add your site and open Admin → Overview. Click the line in the “No signal from the widget yet.” card to copy it — it carries your real site key instead of the placeholder.
<!-- Clew: replace PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY with the site key from Admin > Overview --> <script src="https://tryclew.io/widget/PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY.js" async></script>

Step 1 · schematic illustration - Step 02
Start Claude Code in the project
Run
claudein the project folder (or open Claude Code in your IDE). It works on your real repository and asks before editing files.
Step 2 · schematic illustration - Step 03
Send the prompt with your key
Replace
PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEYwith your key and send the prompt.Add the Clew onboarding widget to this app. Insert this exact tag once so it loads on every page, including after client-side route changes: <script src="https://tryclew.io/widget/PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY.js" async></script> Find the root HTML file or root layout of this project (index.html for Vite, app/layout.tsx with next/script for Next.js App Router, nuxt.config.ts app.head.script for Nuxt, src/app.html for SvelteKit, the base template for server-rendered apps) and add the tag there. After sign-in, call Clew.identify() with non-personal properties as strings that tell a new user from an existing one — for example { signup_source: "web", onboarded: "false", role: "owner" } — and update onboarded to "true" when the user completes the key action. If the widget may not have loaded yet, first define the queue stub: window.TutorKit = window.TutorKit || { q: [], identify: function (p) { this.q.push(["identify", p]); } }; then call window.TutorKit.identify(...). Also add data-tour attributes to the main navigation and the primary create button. Never pass names or emails. Rules: - Use the script URL exactly as given. Do not download it, bundle it or install an npm package. - If the project sets a Content-Security-Policy, allow https://tryclew.io in script-src and connect-src. - Change nothing else and show me the diff.
Step 3 · schematic illustration - Step 04
Approve the edits and ship
Approve the proposed edits after reading them, then commit and deploy as usual — or ask Claude Code to open a pull request.

Step 4 · schematic illustration - Step 05
Create the three onboarding items
In Clew create three items in Flows: a Modal window with one welcome sentence and a link to the key screen; a Step-by-step tooltips tour of 3–4 steps on that screen, built with Edit on your site and Pick element; and a Onboarding checklist with the remaining setup tasks.

Step 5 · schematic illustration - Step 06
Choose where, when and for whom it shows
In the same editor, set Where to show (page URL), When to show, Audience targeting and Frequency. These are the settings of the example above:
Setting Value Welcome popup Format Modal window Where to show (page URL) Exact path /invoicesWhen to show Right on page load Audience targeting No rules — everyone who opens the page Frequency Once per visitor Product tour Format Step-by-step tooltips Where to show (page URL) Section by prefix /invoices/newWhen to show Right on page load Audience targeting No rules — everyone who opens the page Frequency Once per visitor Checklist Format Onboarding checklist Where to show (page URL) Section by prefix /invoicesWhen to show On the Nth visit: 2 Audience targeting Property first_invoice_sentnot equalstrueFrequency Once per visitor 
Step 6 · schematic illustration - Step 07
Publish and check it on the live site
Set Status to Published and save. Open the page in a private window — Clew remembers who has already seen a “once” item, so your usual browser may skip it. Views, completions and drop-offs appear in the tour stats.

Step 7 · schematic illustration
Pitfalls: user onboarding with Claude Code
Claude.ai artifacts are not your app
Code in a Claude.ai chat or artifact runs in a sandbox and isn’t deployed to your users. Install Clew in the actual project with Claude Code, where the change reaches production.
Keep the key out of CLAUDE.md
The site key is public, but it belongs in the page, not in project instructions that get reused across repositories.
The welcome popup must not fire for existing users
“Once per visitor” is per browser: an old customer on a new laptop is a new visitor. If your app knows the user, add a rule on a property like onboarded so long-time users skip the welcome.
Don’t start everything on one page
If the popup, the tour and the checklist all match the same URL, only one starts and the others wait. Give each item its own page or trigger, as in the table above.
Questions and answers
Can Claude Code wire the onboarded flag?
Yes, that is part of the prompt: it sets the property when the first invoice is sent.
Do I need a paid Claude plan?
Claude Code is available with Claude subscriptions and API access; Clew itself doesn’t depend on which one you use.
Which parts are free?
Tours are free on the Free plan. The welcome popup, the checklist and audience rules are in Pro; the 14-day trial includes them all, no card.
How long does it take?
About forty minutes for a first version: ten for the popup, twenty for the tour, ten for the checklist. Then improve by the funnel.
What else you can add with Claude Code
- How to create a product tour with Claude Code without a developer
- How to add an onboarding checklist with Claude Code without a developer
- How to add a paywall upgrade prompt with Claude Code without a developer
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