Install Claude Code
Outcome
By the end, you'll understand why Claude in a browser can't touch your files — and you'll have Claude Code installed in your terminal, ready to read, write, and run things on your own machine.
Concept
Claude running in a browser tab can read, write, and explain text — but it has no access to your computer's files or programs. Ask it to "make a file" and it will describe one in perfect detail, but it can't reach out and create one on your machine. To go from AI that talks about things to AI that does things, you need a way for it to act on your computer directly. That's Claude Code: Claude packaged as a command-line tool. You run it from your terminal, and it reads your files, writes new ones, and runs commands. Installing it is the one-time setup that turns everything you've learned about prompting into something that can actually act on your computer.
Weak approach vs. strong approach
The ask
Can you make a Python file that prints 'hello world'?
What comes back
Sure! Here's what you'd put in a file called hello.py: ``` print('hello world') ``` Create a new file called hello.py, paste that in, save it, then run it with `python hello.py` in your terminal. Let me know if you run into any issues.
Try it
See the browser's limit first, then close it by installing Claude Code:
Steps
- See the gap: in claude.ai, ask — "Make a file called notes.txt with the text 'hello world' in it." Notice Claude describes the file or hands you text, but no file appears on your computer. It explained a file; it didn't create one.
- Open your terminal (on Mac: Spotlight → "Terminal"; on Windows: search for "Terminal" or "PowerShell"; on Linux: your usual shell).
- Install Node.js if you don't already have it — visit nodejs.org and download the current LTS version, or use a package manager (e.g. `brew install node` on Mac).
- Check the install worked by running: `node --version`
- Install Claude Code by running: `npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code`
- Start it by typing `claude` and pressing Enter — you should land in an interactive session.
- Now try the request that failed in the browser: "create a file called hello.txt that says hi" — and watch the file actually appear in your file system.
Takeaway
Browser AI can describe and explain, but only a tool with access to your machine can create and run things — and now you have one. The terminal stops being a mystery box; it's where you and Claude get things done together.