Guides·Install

Install and setup

Installation is where most people meet their first real problem, and the answer differs more by platform than the docs suggest. One guide per path, each ending in a working session.

Download for Mac All guides
01

Start here

Install

Claude Code on your phone: every honest route

SSH, mosh, Tailscale, browser sessions, Anthropic Remote Control, and a native iPhone fleet view, compared by where the agent actually runs.

Read guide →14 min Install

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

The native installer replaced npm as the recommended path. Here is every route, who owns updates on each, and how to fix the common breakages.

Read guide →10 min Install

The Claude Code CLI: every flag and command that matters

Commands, flags grouped by what they control, headless mode with its exact JSON result shape, and the background-session verbs most people never find.

Read guide →9 min
02

Every guide in this cluster

How to install Claude Code on macOS, Windows, and Linux The native installer replaced npm as the recommended path. Here is every route, who owns updates on each, and how to fix the common breakages. 10 min Install Claude Code on Windows: native, WinGet, and WSL2 Four routes, the one you should pick, and the PATH, shell, and filesystem problems that only happen on Windows. 8 min Install Claude Code on macOS: installer, Homebrew, or npm Three routes, when each is right, which one updates itself, and how to move off a global npm install without losing anything. 7 min Install Claude Code on Linux: distros, servers, and headless The native script, the signed package repositories, the headless-server case, and the two ways the binary refuses to run. 8 min Installing Claude Code with npm, and when not to What the package actually contains, the two ways it breaks, version pinning for CI, and the honest case against this route. 7 min The Claude Code CLI: every flag and command that matters Commands, flags grouped by what they control, headless mode with its exact JSON result shape, and the background-session verbs most people never find. 9 min Running Claude Code in your terminal properly Starting sessions, the shortcuts worth memorising, the four settings that change how it feels, and how to run several agents without losing track of them. 8 min Updating Claude Code, and pinning it when you should not One command updates any install. The rest of the page is about the three settings that decide when it happens, and how to stop it. 7 min Claude Code login: subscription, API key, and tokens Six credentials can be present at once and only one is used. This is the order, how to see which won, and why it decides your bill. 7 min Claude Code in VS Code: extension, terminal, or both The extension is a real GUI panel now, not a wrapper around the terminal. Here is what it gains you, what it still cannot do, and why you can run both. 8 min Claude Code in Docker and dev containers One line adds it to a dev container. The rest of the work is credentials, egress, and deciding what the boundary actually buys you. 7 min Running Claude Code on a remote machine over SSH Signing in with no browser, surviving a dropped connection, where the latency really comes from, and how to check on it from a phone. 6 min Claude Code on the web: what it is and what it is not Cloud sessions at claude.ai/code, how they hand off to and from your terminal, and the honest list of what a cloud VM cannot reach. 9 min Claude Code download: what to actually download, per platform The CLI is a one-line install, not a file. The desktop app is a real download. Here is which one you want. 7 min Claude Code on Windows: native support, WSL, and what differs It runs natively now. What that means, when WSL 2 is still the right answer, and the differences nobody documents. 6 min The Claude desktop app: what it is, and how it differs from the CLI One app, three tabs, the same Claude Code engine as the terminal. Plus the Linux beta, which people keep missing. 7 min Downgrade Claude Code, and make the downgrade stick Turn off the auto-updater first. Every downgrade that "did not work" skipped that step. 6 min Uninstall Claude Code cleanly on Mac, Windows, and Linux Identify the install method first. Everything else follows from that, including why it still runs after you remove it. 6 min Claude Code on your phone: every honest route SSH, mosh, Tailscale, browser sessions, Anthropic Remote Control, and a native iPhone fleet view, compared by where the agent actually runs. 14 min
03

Other clusters

PricingUsage trackingReferenceMCPCodexGeminiCursorWorktreesHead to headConceptsTroubleshooting
Try it

Every agent.
One workbench.

Continuum runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini, and more under the subscriptions you already pay for, with live quota gauges and spend by repo.

Download for Mac Compare tools

free app · your subscriptions · local-first