Start here
Install Claude Code
Now install Claude Code itself. There are several ways to do it — we strongly recommend the Desktop app, because you drive everything from a normal window and never have to use the terminal yourself. The terminal installer is further down if you’d rather have that.
Desktop app — recommended
- One download, sign in, and you’re in
- A chat window — no terminal, ever
- Can open your preview and click through it
- What this course assumes
Terminal
- One-line installer
- The classic developer setup
- Only if you already like terminals
The easy way: the Desktop app (recommended)
- Go to
claude.com/download. - Click Download for macOS or Download for Windows and install it like any app. (If your Windows machine is one of the newer ARM ones — a Surface, or a laptop with a Snapdragon chip — pick the Windows (arm64) link instead.)
- Open it and sign in with your Claude account (the one you put on Pro). Approve the browser pop-up.
- At the top center of the window, click the Code tab. That tab is Claude Code. (If it asks you to upgrade instead, your Pro plan hasn’t come through yet — check which account you signed in with.)
The app you just installed is called Claude, and it opens on a Chat tab — that’s the ordinary Claude you may already have used. Claude Code is the Code tab sitting next to it. Everything in this course happens on the Code tab.
The Claude app opens, you’re signed in, and the Code tab is showing. Windows users: one more install to go before this tab will work properly — Git, in the next lesson.
The alternative: the terminal (only if you prefer it)
If you’d rather use the classic terminal, here are the official one-line installers. Otherwise, skip this.
Mac — open the Terminal app and paste:
Mac / Linux — Terminal
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
Windows — open PowerShell and paste:
Windows — PowerShell
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
Windows has two similar-looking black windows and this command only works in one of them. You’re in the right one if the line you type on starts with PS C:\. If it just says C:\, search your Start menu for “PowerShell” and open that instead.
Check it worked, then start it any time:
Type or paste this
claude --version claude
Claude Code keeps itself up to date quietly in the background, so what you install today stays current on its own.
If claude --version says “command not found,” close the terminal window and open a fresh one.
Still stuck? Type claude doctor. It prints a plain checkup of what’s wrong with the install, which you can copy and paste straight back to Claude to have it explained. Or just use the Desktop app — it avoids all of this.
Watch this step
Prefer to watch someone click through the whole setup first? This calm, non-technical walkthrough covers installing and signing in end to end. It was filmed in April 2026, so the permission screen looks a little different now — follow the written steps below for that part. It’s from an independent creator — credited below, so go give them a follow.
Full Claude Code Tutorial for Non-Technical Beginners in 2026 (step-by-step)
More learning resources
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