Getting Started with Claude Code

What You'll Learn

In this lesson, we'll walk through the complete setup process for Claude Code — from installation to your first AI-assisted coding session.

Installation

Getting Claude Code running takes about 30 seconds:

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

That's it. No editor plugins, no config files, no account linking. Just a single npm package.

Starting Your First Session

Navigate to any project directory and run:

cd your-project
claude

Claude Code automatically picks up context from your project — it reads your package.json, checks your directory structure, and understands what kind of project you're working on.

Giving Instructions

Talk to Claude like you'd talk to a senior developer:

• "Add a login page with email and password fields" — Claude will create the component, add routing, and wire up the form
• "Fix the bug where users can't upload files over 5MB" — Claude traces through your code to find and fix the issue
• "Write tests for the auth middleware" — Claude reads the middleware, understands the logic, and writes comprehensive tests

Key Concepts

File Access — Claude Code reads and writes files directly on your filesystem. No copy-pasting between browser and editor.

Command Execution — Claude can run npm install, git commit, test suites, and any other shell command. You approve each one.

Context Window — Claude sees your entire project structure. It understands how files relate to each other.

What's Next

Now that you're set up, check out CLAUDE.md Best Practices to learn how to give Claude persistent context about your project. It's the single biggest productivity boost you can add.