Installing Claude Code

Go to console.anthropic.com and sign up. Use the same email you’ll want tied to your API usage.

After sign-up, go to Billing and add a payment method. Claude Code is pay-as-you-go: you’re billed for what you actually use. For most business use, expect anywhere from $5 to $50 a month depending on how much you run.

Download from code.visualstudio.com. Pick the version for your operating system, run the installer, accept the defaults.

VS Code is free and made by Microsoft. It’s the standard code editor most developers use today. Don’t worry about learning it deeply. You’ll be using it mostly as a workspace for Claude Code.

Claude Code runs on Node.js under the hood, so you need it installed first.

Go to nodejs.org and download the LTS version (the one on the left, marked “Recommended For Most Users”). Run the installer and accept the defaults.

Verify it worked. Open your terminal:

• Windows: press Windows key, type cmd, open Command Prompt.
• Mac: press Cmd+Space, type terminal, open Terminal.

Type this and press Enter:

node --version

You should see something like v20.11.0. Any version 18 or higher works.

In the same terminal, run:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

This installs Claude Code globally on your machine, meaning you can run it from any folder.

Verify:

claude --version

You should see a version number. If you get “command not found,” close the terminal, open a new one, and try again.

Now, from any folder in the terminal, run:

claude

First time, it’ll open your browser and ask you to sign in with your Anthropic account. Approve, come back to the terminal.

You’re in. You’ll see a prompt waiting for your input. Type anything, hit Enter, and Claude will answer inside the terminal.

To exit the session, type /exit or press Ctrl+C twice.

The terminal works, but the real experience is inside VS Code. Because there, Claude can see all the files in your project folder.

Open VS Code. Then:

1. Click File → Open Folder.
2. Pick any folder. If you don’t have one yet, create a new folder on your desktop called test-project and pick that.
3. Once the folder is open in VS Code, open the terminal inside VS Code: View → Terminal (or press Ctrl+` on Windows, Cmd+` on Mac).
4. In that terminal, type claude and hit Enter.

Now Claude is running inside VS Code, aware of every file in the folder. Ask it: “tell me what you see in this folder.” It’ll describe the contents.

Every project you work on with Claude Code should have a CLAUDE.md file at its root. That’s the file Claude reads automatically at the start of every conversation, so you don’t have to explain the project again every time.

In VS Code, right-click your project folder in the left sidebar, pick New File, and name it CLAUDE.md. Paste this as a starting point:

# CLAUDE.md - [Project Name]

## What this project is
[One or two sentences]

## Stack
- [Language / framework / tools]

## Rules
- [How you want the code written]
- [What not to do]

## Important files
- [File path]  # [what it is]

Adjust to match your project. Even a rough version is better than none.

One more setup step, and it’s the most important one for the way you’ll actually work.

Before any significant task, put Claude in Plan Mode. This tells Claude “don’t write code yet, just plan.” You review the plan, approve or revise, and then it executes.

How to enter Plan Mode: press Shift+Tab twice. You’ll see the indicator change at the bottom of the terminal.

Or just type it: “plan before you write any code.” Same effect.

Get in the habit of starting every big task this way. It’s the single biggest quality difference between a smooth session and a painful one.