Start here
Install the Claude app
Now install the software. There are several ways to do it, and we strongly recommend the desktop app, because you drive everything from a normal window and never touch a terminal. The terminal installer is further down if you would rather have that.
Desktop app — recommended
- One download, sign in, and you're in
- A chat window — no terminal, ever
- Can open your site's preview and click through it
- What this course assumes throughout
Terminal
- A one-line installer
- The classic developer setup
- Only if you already like terminals
The easy way: the desktop app
- Go to
claude.com/download. - Click Download for macOS or Download for Windows and install it like any other program. (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 just put on Pro. Approve the pop-up that opens in your browser.
- 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 program you just installed is called Claude, and it opens on a Chat tab — that is the ordinary Claude you may already have used for research or drafting. Claude Code is not a separate download. It is the Code tab sitting right next to Chat. Everything in this course happens on the Code tab.
The Claude app opens, you are signed in, and the Code tab is showing. Windows users: one more install before that tab will work properly — Git, in the next lesson.
The alternative: the terminal
Only if you actively prefer it. Otherwise skip straight to the next lesson — nothing below is required.
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 are in the right one if the line you type on begins 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. You will not need to come back and repeat this lesson.
The Code tab asks you to upgrade. You are signed in on a different account from the one you put on Pro. Sign out, sign back in with the right email.
In the terminal, claude --version says “command not found.” Close that terminal window completely and open a fresh one; it needs to notice the new program.
Still stuck? Type claude doctor. It prints a plain checkup of what is 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 before you try it? 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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