Claude Code CLI

tl;dr: This is the claude CLI (Planner: “claude cli”), not the claude.ai chat product. Docs live at code.claude.com. GitHub anthropics/claude-code is 144,611 stars this session.

What it does

Claude Code is an agentic coding tool in the terminal: it reads the repo, runs tasks, and handles git workflows in natural language. The README says it “understands your codebase, and helps you code faster by executing routine tasks, explaining complex code, and handling git workflows.”

Desktop app exists if you do not want a terminal. This page is the CLI.

Install

Native install is what Anthropic recommends. npm global is deprecated on the README (still documented as a fallback on install).

macOS / Linux / WSL:

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

Homebrew (stable cask; does not auto-update — brew upgrade claude-code):

brew install --cask claude-code

Windows PowerShell:

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

WinGet: winget install Anthropic.ClaudeCode (also no auto-update).

Confirm:

claude --version
claude

Then authenticate in the browser, or set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (docs: skips the browser prompt).

Commands (quickstart)

Requirements (install page, this fetch)

macOS 13+, Windows 10 1809+ / Server 2019+, Ubuntu 20.04+ / Debian 10+ / Alpine 3.19+. 4 GB+ RAM, x64 or ARM64, internet, Bash/Zsh/PowerShell/CMD. Anthropic supported countries only.

Git for Windows is recommended on native Windows so the Bash tool works; otherwise it uses PowerShell. WSL does not need Git for Windows.

Native installs auto-update in the background. Homebrew and WinGet do not.

Gotchas

• Do not treat npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code as current. README: deprecated. Install page: npm still pulls a native binary via optional deps; Node 22+ as of v2.1.198 on that page; sudo npm install -g is explicitly wrong.
• PowerShell vs CMD: && fails in PowerShell; irm fails in CMD.
• curl 403 / syntax error near unexpected token '<' — proxy or HTML error page; see Troubleshoot installation on the same docs.
• This is not Claude the chat product. Pair with Aider if you want a git-commit-every-edit CLI instead.

Related: Aider, Claude, Cursor, best local LLM, Cursor vs Claude Code.

Untested here — facts from GitHub and code.claude.com fetched 2026-09-10.