Setup & Installation
What you will learn
- Install Claude Code on macOS, Linux, or WSL and verify it works
- Understand the difference between Claude Code and chat-based AI tools
- Configure your environment for optimal AI-assisted development
- Navigate the permission model and understand what Claude Code can access
# Setup & Installation
Claude Code changes how you interact with AI for development. Instead of copying code from a chat window and pasting it into your editor, Claude Code operates directly in your project — reading files, writing code, running tests, and committing changes.
What Makes Claude Code Different
Most AI coding tools work like this: you describe what you want, copy the response, paste it into your file, fix the parts that don't work, repeat. Claude Code eliminates that loop entirely.
When you run Claude Code inside a project directory, it can:
- Read your entire codebase to understand context before suggesting changes
- Edit files directly with precise, targeted modifications
- Run terminal commands like npm test, git commit, or python manage.py migrate
- Iterate on errors by reading error output and fixing the code automatically
Think of it as a senior developer sitting next to you in the terminal.
Installation
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What you'll learn:
- Install Claude Code on macOS, Linux, or WSL and verify it works
- Understand the difference between Claude Code and chat-based AI tools
- Configure your environment for optimal AI-assisted development