Claude Code overview - Claude Code Docs

Get started in 30 seconds

Prerequisites:

• A Claude subscription (Pro, Max, Teams, or Enterprise) or Claude Console account

Install Claude Code: To install Claude Code, use one of the following methods:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.cmd -o install.cmd && install.cmd && del install.cmd

brew install --cask claude-code

winget install Anthropic.ClaudeCode

Start using Claude Code:

You’ll be prompted to log in on first use. That’s it! Continue with Quickstart (5 minutes) →

What Claude Code does for you

• Build features from descriptions: Tell Claude what you want to build in plain English. It will make a plan, write the code, and ensure it works.
• Debug and fix issues: Describe a bug or paste an error message. Claude Code will analyze your codebase, identify the problem, and implement a fix.
• Navigate any codebase: Ask anything about your team’s codebase, and get a thoughtful answer back. Claude Code maintains awareness of your entire project structure, can find up-to-date information from the web, and with MCP can pull from external data sources like Google Drive, Figma, and Slack.
• Automate tedious tasks: Fix fiddly lint issues, resolve merge conflicts, and write release notes. Do all this in a single command from your developer machines, or automatically in CI.

Why developers love Claude Code

• Works in your terminal: Not another chat window. Not another IDE. Claude Code meets you where you already work, with the tools you already love.
• Takes action: Claude Code can directly edit files, run commands, and create commits. Need more? MCP lets Claude read your design docs in Google Drive, update your tickets in Jira, or use your custom developer tooling.
• Unix philosophy: Claude Code is composable and scriptable. tail -f app.log | claude -p "Slack me if you see any anomalies appear in this log stream" works. Your CI can run claude -p "If there are new text strings, translate them into French and raise a PR for @lang-fr-team to review".
• Enterprise-ready: Use the Claude API, or host on AWS or GCP. Enterprise-grade security, privacy, and compliance is built-in.

Use Claude Code everywhere

Claude Code works across your development environment: in your terminal, in your IDE, in the cloud, and in Slack.

• Terminal (CLI): the core Claude Code experience. Run claude in any terminal to start coding.
• Claude Code on the web: use Claude Code from your browser at claude.ai/code or the Claude iOS app, with no local setup required. Run tasks in parallel, work on repos you don’t have locally, and review changes in a built-in diff view.
• Desktop app: a standalone application with diff review, parallel sessions via git worktrees, and the ability to launch cloud sessions.
• VS Code: a native extension with inline diffs, @-mentions, and plan review.
• JetBrains IDEs: a plugin for IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, and other JetBrains IDEs with IDE diff viewing and context sharing.
• GitHub Actions: automate code review, issue triage, and other workflows in CI/CD with @claude mentions.
• GitLab CI/CD: event-driven automation for GitLab merge requests and issues.
• Slack: mention Claude in Slack to route coding tasks to Claude Code on the web and get PRs back.
• Chrome: connect Claude Code to your browser for live debugging, design verification, and web app testing.

Next steps

Additional resources