Start here
Your first
10 minutes.
You don't need to be a developer. You need a terminal, an API key, and 10 minutes. Claudia handles the rest.
Open your terminal
A terminal is just a text box where you type commands. That's it. No GUI, no buttons — you type something, press Enter, and it does it.
Press Cmd + Space, type Terminal, hit Enter.
You'll see a window with a blinking cursor. That's your terminal. If you prefer a nicer one later, look up iTerm2 — but the built-in one works fine.
Press Win, type PowerShell, hit Enter.
Use PowerShell, not Command Prompt (CMD). PowerShell is the modern one. If you see a blue window, you're in the right place.
Press Ctrl + Alt + T.
On most Linux distributions, this opens the default terminal. If it doesn't, look for "Terminal" in your applications menu.
Install Node.js
Node.js lets you run JavaScript tools on your computer. Claude Code is one of those tools. You install it once and forget about it.
Option A — if you have Homebrew:
Option B — download directly:
Go to nodejs.org and download the LTS version. Run the installer.
Download from nodejs.org — click the big green LTS button.
Run the installer, click Next through everything. The defaults are fine.
$ sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
For Fedora/RHEL, use dnf install nodejs instead.
Verify it worked:
The version number doesn't have to match exactly — anything v18 or higher is fine.
"command not found" — Node didn't install?
Close your terminal and open a new one. New tools often aren't available until you restart the terminal.
If it still doesn't work, the installer might not have added Node to your PATH. On Mac, try running export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH" and then node --version again.
On Windows, restart your computer — the PATH changes sometimes need a full reboot.
Get a Claude API key
An API key is like a password that lets Claude Code talk to Claude. You create one on Anthropic's website.
Go to console.anthropic.com and create an account (or sign in).
Click API Keys in the left sidebar.
Click Create Key. Give it a name like "claude-code".
Copy the key. It starts with sk-ant-. Keep this tab open — you'll need it in the next step.
Security note: This key is like a password. Don't share it, don't paste it in your code, and don't commit it to GitHub. Claude Code stores it securely for you.
Install Claude Code
Claude Code is the tool that lets you talk to Claude in your terminal. One command installs it.
Then start it:
The first time you run it, Claude Code will ask for your API key. Paste the one you copied in the previous step.
What you should see:
Permission errors on Mac/Linux?
If you see EACCES permission errors, your npm global directory needs fixing. Run:
Then add this to your shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):
Restart your terminal and try the install again.
Install Claudia
Claudia is a plugin that makes Claude Code smarter. She catches security issues, teaches you as you go, and makes sure the code Claude writes is actually good.
Restart your terminal, then start Claude Code again:
You should see Claudia's greeting:
Make it yours (optional)
Your terminal is going to be your workspace. It's worth making it comfortable — a better font, a better terminal app, maybe a color theme. But you don't have to figure that out yourself.
Just ask Claudia. She'll detect what you're running and walk you through it:
She'll recommend a font, a terminal app for your OS, and help you install and configure them — step by step, in your terminal, right now.
You're ready.
Open Claude Code and run your first guided session. Claudia will walk you through everything.
Or just start building. Type anything to Claude — Claudia is watching.