AI CODING TOOLS / LESSON 02
Installation.
Getting Claude Code set up on your computer
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AI CODING TOOLS / LESSON 02
Getting Claude Code set up on your computer
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Time to get Claude Code on your computer. It's ONE command, and we'll go through every step together. By the end you'll be ready to start using your AI programming assistant.
You do not need to install Node.js or anything else first. The recommended installer brings along everything Claude Code needs.
The way Anthropic recommends installing Claude Code is the native installer. Pick the command for your system, paste it into your terminal and press Enter.
On Mac, Linux or WSL.
On Windows PowerShell.
On Windows Command Prompt (CMD).
Looks like gibberish, right? Here's the Mac and Linux one piece by piece.
curl - A tool that downloads stuff from the internet.-fsSL - Options that tell curl to keep quiet, follow redirects, and stop if anything goes sideways.https://claude.ai/install.sh - Anthropic's official install script.| bash - Hands the downloaded script over to your terminal to run.Close your terminal, open a new terminal window, and type this.
See a version number? Congrats, Claude Code is installed and ready to roll!
Want a fuller health check of your install and settings? Run this.
The first time you run claude, it opens your web browser so you can log in to your Claude account. Follow the prompts there, then come back to the terminal. Next lesson walks you through that first launch.
Stick with the native installer unless you've got a real reason not to. These alternatives are official too.
brew install --cask claude-code. Homebrew installs don't update themselves, so run brew upgrade claude-code every so often.winget install Anthropic.ClaudeCode. Update it with winget upgrade Anthropic.ClaudeCode.npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code. This one needs Node.js 22 or later installed first.Sometimes your computer has other plans. Here's how to handle the usual suspects.
Close your terminal completely and open a fresh one. The terminal needs a restart before it notices new programs.
Still saying "command not found"? Then the folder Claude Code got installed into isn't on your PATH yet (PATH is the list of places your terminal checks for programs). Anthropic's installation troubleshooting guide shows how to fix it for your system.
If you get an error like "syntax error near unexpected token", a 403, or some other curl error, look up the exact message in Anthropic's installation troubleshooting guide. It matches each error to a fix.
That one install command did a bunch of work behind the scenes.
claude available as a command you can type anywhereAnd you pulled all that off with a single line of text. That's the power of the terminal (pretty cool for a black box with blinking text)!
claude --version, and run claude doctor for a deeper checkclaude isn't found, open a new terminal window firstClaude Code is installed! Next lesson you'll fire it up for the first time and have your first conversation with your new AI programming assistant...