Claude Code, set up properly

You watched the video. Here is the actual setup. It takes about ten minutes, you do not need to know how to code, and you do not need to touch a terminal.

Read this before you install anything

Claude Code is not free. It needs a paid Claude plan, starting at Pro, or API credits billed separately. There is no free tier for it. The free Claude plan gets you the chat apps, not this.

I am telling you first because the install takes two minutes and then you would hit a wall. If you are not ready to pay for a month to find out whether you like it, close this and come back later.

In the video I said Claude Code lives in your terminal. That is exactly what it is. What most guides do not tell you is that you no longer have to drive it that way.

It comes with a desktop app, the same one you may already have for Claude, with the terminal built into it and buttons around it. Same tool, far less intimidating. That is the way in this page uses.

1. Get the desktop app

Go to claude.com/download and install Claude for Mac or Windows. If you already have it from the Claude learning roadmap, you are done with this step.

Skip for now: the terminal install, the npm version, and every guide that opens with "first install Node.js". Those still exist and they still work. They are the advanced route and you do not need them today.

✓ You will know it worked when Claude is open in its own window, not a browser tab.

2. Sign in with your paid account

Open the app and sign in with the same account your Claude subscription is on.

Skip for now: API keys. If you have a paid plan, signing in is all you need. API keys are for people billing usage separately, and you would know if that were you.

✓ You will know it worked when you are signed in and, at the next step, the Code tab opens a session instead of telling you to upgrade.

3. Find the Code tab

Claude Code lives inside the app you just opened, in its own tab. Click Code.

This is the part people miss. They install the app, use the chat, and never notice the tab where the tool from the video actually is.

Skip for now: the panels you do not recognise. There is a file editor, a preview window and a built-in terminal in there. You will grow into them. Ignore all of it for the next ten minutes.

On Windows, the first time you open it the app asks you to install one helper called Git for Windows. Install it, restart the app, carry on. Two minutes, one time, then it never asks again.

✓ You will know it worked when you are looking at the Code tab and it is asking you to open a folder or start a session.

4. Point it at a real folder

This is the step everyone skips, and it is the one that makes the difference. Claude Code works inside a folder you give it, so give it a real one.

Make a new folder anywhere on your computer, then open it from the Code tab. No typing, no paths, just pick it the way you would in any other app.

Skip for now: connecting it to anything important. Your first folder should be one where nothing matters if it gets messy. Do not start with your business files.

✓ You will know it worked when you ask "what files are in here?" and it answers about your actual folder.

5. Give it a job, not a question

This is the whole point, and it is the same shift from the first video in this series. An AI assistant answers. This does the work.

Do not ask "how would I write something that renames files?" Say "rename every file in this folder so the date comes first, then show me what changed."

Skip for now: big ambitious projects. Your first job should be something you could have done by hand in ten minutes, so you can tell whether it did it right.

✓ You will know it worked when you look at the folder and the files actually changed, and you did not touch them.

Three things beginners get wrong

Treating it like a chat window. If you find yourself asking it to explain things rather than do them, you are using the chat tab with extra steps.

Starting in the wrong folder. If it cannot see your files, it is almost always pointed somewhere else.

Letting it loose on something that matters. By default it shows you each change and asks before touching your files. If you switch that off, it will edit without stopping.

When in doubt, set the mode selector next to the send button to Plan, where it works out what it would do and shows you the plan before touching anything. It is very good and it is not psychic.

Do this now, before you close the tab

Make an empty folder, drop three or four junk files in it, open it in the Code tab, and paste this in:

Look at the files in this folder and tell me what you think each one is for. Then suggest a
clearer way to name and organise them, and ask me before you change anything.

Two minutes, nothing at risk, and you will have watched it read your real files and come back with a plan. That is the thing the video was describing. If you only do one thing from this page, do this.