I gave Claude Code our entire codebase. Our customers noticed. | Al Chen (Galileo)

2026-04-08 · Source: Lenny's Newsletter · Field: Technology & Digital — Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Software Development & Engineering · Depth: Intermediate, extended

Summary

Al Chen, a Field Engineer at Galileo, demonstrates how he leverages AI, specifically Claude Code, to efficiently answer complex customer queries by analyzing Galileo's entire codebase. Facing challenges with public documentation failing to provide detailed, step-by-step answers for enterprise customers deploying AI observability tools on Kubernetes, Chen developed a system. He pulls Galileo's 15 individual repositories into his VS Code environment, enabling Claude Code to query the combined codebase for precise technical information. This approach significantly reduces reliance on engineering teams for support, streamlines customer interactions, and ensures answers are current with the main branch. Additionally, Chen uses AI to transform Slack conversations into knowledge base articles and custom deployment plans, enhancing customer experience and internal efficiency.

Key takeaway

For AI Engineers or Field Engineers supporting complex enterprise products, integrating AI coding assistants with your entire codebase can drastically improve response times and accuracy for customer inquiries. You should set up a local development environment that aggregates all relevant repositories and internal documentation, enabling AI to provide highly tailored, current answers. This strategy reduces engineering team interruptions and enhances customer trust by delivering precise, context-aware solutions, ultimately boosting your team's efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Key insights

AI can transform customer support by querying entire codebases and internal knowledge for precise, real-time answers.

Principles

• Codebase as the ultimate source of truth.
• AI navigates information across disparate systems.
• Customer experience is a competitive differentiator.

Method

Pull all relevant repositories into a single IDE workspace, then use an AI coding assistant (e.g., Claude Code) to query the aggregated codebase and internal documentation for detailed, context-specific answers.

In practice

• Use AI to generate scripts for automating repo updates.
• Combine code context with internal docs (Confluence, Slack) for richer answers.
• Automate knowledge base article creation from support interactions.

Topics

• Claude Code
• Codebase Querying
• Field Engineering
• Customer Experience
• Knowledge Management

Best for: AI Engineer, Software Engineer, Director of AI/ML

Related on AIssential

• 🎙️ This week on How I AI: I gave Claude Code our entire codebase. Our customers noticed. — Integrating AI with a full codebase and internal knowledge bases provides real-time, tailored customer support.
• Onboarding Claude Code like a new developer: Lessons from 17 years of development — Treating AI coding tools like new human developers, with structured onboarding and context, significantly enhances their effectiveness on complex codebases.
• Claude Code for Finance + The Global Memory Shortage: Doug O'Laughlin, SemiAnalysis — Claude Code's rapid advancement is automating complex information work, fundamentally changing productivity and challenging traditional industry models.
• How to use Claude Code to build a board room of world class Product Mentors — Claude Code enables non-engineers to build AI mentor systems for strategic product decision-making.
• How to Combine Claude Code and Codex for Maximum Coding Power — Combining Claude Code and Codex, utilizing their unique strengths, significantly boosts coding efficiency and robustness.
• Building Claude Code with Boris Cherny — AI-driven coding tools like Claude Code are transforming engineering workflows, emphasizing planning and rapid iteration over manual coding.

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Lenny's Newsletter.