How to install Claude Code on macOS, Windows, and Linux

Before you start

macOS and Linux

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

# Pin the slower, safer channel instead
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash -s stable

# Or an exact version
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash -s 2.1.89

claude --version
# 2.1.211 (Claude Code)

claude doctor      # read-only install and settings diagnostics

claude
> /login            # opens a browser for your Claude account

# Or use an API key instead of a subscription
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

# Non-interactive machines: mint a long-lived token
claude setup-token

cd ~/code/myapp
claude

# Worth it once per project: let it write a CLAUDE.md
> /init

Homebrew

Convenient if you already manage everything else that way, at the cost of updates. There are two casks and they mean different things.

brew install --cask claude-code            # stable channel, about a week behind
brew install --cask claude-code@latest    # every release as it ships

brew upgrade claude-code                  # Homebrew installs do NOT auto-update
brew cleanup                              # old versions stay on disk otherwise

Alpine and other musl distributions

Alpine ships without bash or curl, so the documented one-liner fails with a not found error until you add them, and the bundled ripgrep does not work on musl.

apk add bash curl libgcc libstdc++ ripgrep
# then set USE_BUILTIN_RIPGREP to "0" in the env block of settings.json

Windows

Claude Code runs natively on Windows. WSL is still a good choice if your project already lives there, but it is no longer required. Pick by where your code is and whether you want sandboxing.

Native install

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

# then, in a new terminal
claude --version

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

winget install Anthropic.ClaudeCode
winget upgrade Anthropic.ClaudeCode   # WinGet installs do NOT auto-update

Git for Windows is optional but changes the shell tool

Without Git for Windows, Claude Code runs shell commands through the PowerShell tool. With it installed, Claude Code uses Git Bash for the Bash tool. If it cannot find Git Bash, point at it explicitly.

{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_GIT_BASH_PATH": "C:\\Program Files\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe"
  }
}

WSL

Inside WSL, follow the Linux instructions exactly and install from the WSL terminal, not from PowerShell. The one thing that matters is where your code lives.

# Good: project on the Linux filesystem, fast
cd ~/code/myapp && claude

# Slow: project on the Windows filesystem via /mnt
cd /mnt/c/Users/you/code/myapp && claude

Filesystem calls across the /mnt boundary are dramatically slower, and an agent does thousands of them. A session that feels unusably sluggish in WSL is almost always this, not the model.

Choosing an install method

The real difference between these is not convenience, it is who owns updates. Only the native install updates itself.

Linux package managers

Anthropic publishes signed apt, dnf, and apk repositories, each with a stable and a latest channel. Verify the key fingerprint before you trust it.

sudo apt install curl gnupg
sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://downloads.claude.ai/keys/claude-code.asc \
  -o /etc/apt/keyrings/claude-code.asc

# Confirm it belongs to Anthropic before continuing
gpg --show-keys /etc/apt/keyrings/claude-code.asc
# fingerprint should be 31DDDE24DDFAB679F42D7BD2BAA929FF1A7ECACE

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/claude-code.asc] https://downloads.claude.ai/claude-code/apt/stable stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/claude-code.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install claude-code

npm, if you have a specific reason

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

# Upgrade: use @latest, not npm update -g, which respects the old semver range
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest

# Do NOT sudo this. If you get EACCES, fix your npm prefix instead:
npm config set prefix "$HOME/.npm-global"
export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"

The npm package installs the same native binary as the standalone installer, pulled in through a per-platform optional dependency such as @anthropic-ai/claude-code-darwin-arm64. The installed claude binary does not invoke Node at runtime. Your package manager must allow optional dependencies, or the binary goes missing after a seemingly successful install.

Updates and release channels

A native install checks for updates on startup and periodically while running, then applies them the next time you start. Which versions it accepts is configurable, which matters for teams.

{
  "autoUpdatesChannel": "stable",
  "minimumVersion": "2.1.100"
}

claude update
# Successfully updated from 2.1.203 to version 2.1.211
# or: Claude Code is up to date (2.1.211)

claude doctor   # shows the result of the most recent update attempt

When it does not work

Verifying what you downloaded

Every release publishes a manifest.json of SHA256 checksums signed with an Anthropic GPG key, so verifying the manifest transitively verifies every binary it lists. Signatures exist for releases from 2.1.89 onward.

curl -fsSL https://downloads.claude.ai/keys/claude-code.asc | gpg --import
gpg --fingerprint security@anthropic.com
# 31DD DE24 DDFA B679 F42D  7BD2 BAA9 29FF 1A7E CACE

REPO=https://downloads.claude.ai/claude-code-releases
VERSION=2.1.89
curl -fsSLO "$REPO/$VERSION/manifest.json"
curl -fsSLO "$REPO/$VERSION/manifest.json.sig"
gpg --verify manifest.json.sig manifest.json

On macOS the binary is also signed by "Anthropic PBC" and notarized (codesign --verify --verbose ./claude); on Windows it is signed by "Anthropic, PBC" (Get-AuthenticodeSignature .\claude.exe). Linux binaries are not individually code-signed, which is why the manifest signature matters more there.

Running a second account

The CLI stores one credential per machine user, so a second /login replaces the first. Point each account at its own config root instead.

CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR="$HOME/.claude-work" claude

Worth doing right after install

1. Run /init in your main repo. It writes a CLAUDE.md describing the project, which measurably improves every later session. Then edit what it produced; the value is in what only you know.
2. Pick a model and effort deliberately. /model and /effort. Defaulting to the largest model at max effort is the fastest way to hit rate limits.
3. Learn /clear, /compact, and /rewind. Context management is most of cost control.
4. Set up a status line. It can render context percentage and both rate-limit windows continuously, which is the cheapest early warning there is.
5. Set up gh. With the GitHub CLI authenticated, the agent can open PRs itself.
6. Check your plan against your usage. Pro is fine to start; the signal to upgrade is hitting limits during planned work, twice in a fortnight.

Uninstalling cleanly

Removing the binary is not the same as removing Claude Code. If claude still runs afterwards you have a second installation or a leftover shell alias.

rm -f ~/.local/bin/claude
rm -rf ~/.local/share/claude

# Other methods
brew uninstall --cask claude-code       # or claude-code@latest
winget uninstall Anthropic.ClaudeCode
sudo apt remove claude-code
npm uninstall -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Questions people ask

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