Claude Code in the Galley: The Power Tool

What Claude Code Is

Claude Code is a terminal tool by Anthropic. It runs on your computer, reads your documents, creates files, and executes commands. You talk to it in plain English. No coding required.

It is to the browser version of Claude what a Thermomix is to a stick blender — same motor, but it can do things the simpler version physically cannot:

• Read your guest preference files before composing a menu
• Cross-reference every dish against dietary restrictions automatically
• Generate LaTeX menu cards and compile them to PDF
• Organise menus into folders by trip, date, and service type
• Update handover documents after each charter
• Build provision lists from your menu plans
• Process WhatsApp chat exports into structured guest intelligence

Install Claude Code (5 Minutes)

Six steps. Five minutes. Then you never do this again.

1 Get a Claude account. Go to claude.ai/pricing. You need a Max plan ($100/mo) or an API key with credits.

2 Open your terminal. Mac: search for “Terminal” in Spotlight. Windows: install WSL first, then open the Ubuntu terminal.

3 Install Node.js. Mac: brew install node. Or download from nodejs.org. You need version 18 or higher.

4 Install Claude Code.

5 Start it. Type claude and press Enter. Log in when prompted.

6 Navigate to your galley folder and talk. That’s it. You are running.

Video Tutorials

If you prefer watching over reading, these three will get you from zero to functional:

• Claude Code Tutorial for Beginners 2026 — AyyazTech
• Claude Code: Build an App in 15 Minutes — Peter Yang
• The Ultimate Claude Code Course — Sabrina Ramonov

Official documentation: docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code

From Prompt to Printed Menu in 2 Minutes

This is the feature that changes your daily workflow. Not a suggestion. Not a draft. A print-ready PDF menu card. Formatted, styled, ready to hand to the chief stew.

How It Works

1 You say this:

2 Claude Code builds the menu, writes a LaTeX file with proper typography, compiles it to PDF, and saves it dated in your folder.

3 You open and print. Done. Two minutes.

Why This Matters

The old workflow: chef writes the menu on paper or in Notes. Sends it to the chief stew. Chief stew opens Word or Canva and formats it. Back and forth on spacing, font, spelling. Three people, four messages, twenty minutes. Every single service.

With Claude Code, you own the pipeline. One prompt, one PDF, one print. The chief stew gets a clean, consistent document without touching a design tool. You get twenty minutes back per service.

What You Need Installed — LaTeX

Claude Code needs LaTeX to generate PDFs. This is a one-time install:

If you are on a yacht with limited internet, download the installer on shore Wi-Fi and bring it on a USB stick. Claude Code will detect it automatically once installed.

Galley Intelligence: Your Data, Your Advantage

This is where Claude Code stops being a menu tool and becomes an operating system for your galley. The menus are the surface. The intelligence underneath is the real value.

Every charter produces data — WhatsApp messages, preference sheets, trip feedback, provisioning records, handover notes. Most of it sits in your phone, unsearchable, forgotten by the next rotation. Claude Code turns all of it into structured intelligence you can query, share, and build on.

Think of it this way: after five charters, a chef using Claude Code has a searchable database of every guest preference, every menu that worked, every supplier that delivered on time, and every dish that got a compliment or a complaint. A chef without it has a phone full of screenshots and a memory that fades with each rotation.

WhatsApp as Your Intelligence Feed

Every yacht has the feedback group — the chief stew forwards guest comments after each meal. “They loved the tuna tartare.” “Mr. B said the lamb was too pink.” “Kids didn’t touch the vegetables again.”

That group is a goldmine sitting in your pocket. Export it and paste it into Claude Code.

In 30 seconds, Claude Code returns:

• Every dish mentioned positively or negatively
• Dietary preferences discovered mid-charter
• Guest personality patterns (adventurous vs conservative eaters)
• Contradictions with existing preference records
• Specific quotes worth remembering for the next trip

The Galley Intelligence Chat

Here is a method that costs nothing and pays for itself on the first charter. Create a private WhatsApp group with just you and one other person (or just you — WhatsApp allows single-member groups now).

During the charter, every time you notice something — a guest who grimaced at the cilantro, a crew member who always takes seconds of the pasta, a wine that got compliments — you type a quick note into this group. Ten seconds. No formatting. Just the observation.

At the end of the charter, export the chat, paste it into Claude Code, and ask it to structure your observations into a proper preference update. Ten days of raw intelligence, organised in under a minute.

Handover Notes in 30 Seconds

At the end of a rotation, instead of spending two hours writing handover notes, you say this:

Claude Code generates a complete handover. On a 50-metre motor yacht, this produced a 13-file handover package including:

• Equipment changes and where things are now
• Two trips of executed menus with ratings
• Complete guest preference update — favourite dishes, allergies, “do not serve” list
• Outstanding maintenance tasks with severity
• Supplier contacts with notes on reliability

Rotational Chef Sync

Two chefs rotating on the same yacht can share a Claude Code project folder. Every menu, every guest note, every preference update lives in one place.

When Chef B arrives:

No more “the other chef didn’t leave notes.” No more guessing what the guests liked last month. No more starting from scratch every rotation.

The system remembers. You ask, it answers.

The Chief Stew Channel

Instead of the chief stew texting “the guests loved the lamb” at 11 PM and hoping someone remembers it next charter, they can paste feedback into a shared document or text file. Claude Code processes it:

The preference file stays current without anyone manually editing it. After a 10-day charter, you have a complete record of every reaction to every dish — structured, searchable, ready for the next trip or the next chef.

Tips from a Working Galley

Be specific. “Italian dinner” gives you generic. “Amalfi Coast, branzino and lamb rack, 6 guests, one vegetarian, family style” gives you something printable. The AI responds to precision the same way a commis does.

Correct it. “Replace the lamb with duck confit. Make the salad simpler.” It adapts instantly. You are the chef. It is the tool.

Build on previous menus. “Same style as last night but Japanese theme” works in the same conversation. Context carries forward.

Use it for ideas. “5 Cultural Touchstone names for a Greek island dinner” is a valid prompt. So is “What did I serve the last time these guests were on board?”

Export your WhatsApp feedback after every charter. It takes 30 seconds and builds your intelligence over time. After three charters, your preference database is better than anything you could build from memory.

The maths. If you spend 45 minutes writing a menu card by hand, and the AI gives you a better one in 3 minutes — that is 42 minutes back in your day. Over a 10-day charter, that is 7 hours. Seven hours of sleep, or prep, or the thing you never have time for.

The AI is not replacing you. Nothing replaces the chef who knows that this guest prefers their steak slightly more done than they admit, or that the kids will only eat the pasta if it looks exactly like last time. That knowledge lives in you. Claude Code just makes sure it is never lost.