On November 24th one of my dev friends (hey Maciej!) told me I could run Claude Code in VS Code's terminal. I had no idea. Shame on me I guess. Since then I've been building all the things I always wanted but never had a developer for.
Let me show you how to start using it. Install to first prompt in under 5 minutes.
Step 1: Open VS Code and the terminal
Open your project folder in VS Code. If you don't have a project yet, create an empty folder somewhere and open that.
VS Code after opening a project. Ignore the shortcuts for now.
Pull up the terminal. Top menu: Terminal > New Terminal. Or just hit Ctrl+`.
This is where you'll type commands and talk to Claude.
This terminal at the bottom is where everything happens. All the commands below go here.
Step 2: Install Claude Code
Same terminal. One command, nothing else to install first.
On Mac or Linux:
bash
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
On Windows (PowerShell):
powershell
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
You'll see a few lines of output. When it stops and you get your cursor back, you're good. Close and reopen VS Code so the terminal picks up the new command.
Step 3: Launch it
Same terminal. Type claude and hit Enter.
bash
claude
First time you run it, there's a quick setup. Takes about a minute.
It asks you to pick a color theme:
Theme selection on first launch. Dark mode is the only correct answer.
Next up: how you want to log in. You need a Claude Pro, Max, or API account.
If you're paying for Claude Pro or Max, pick option 1.
It opens a browser window where you authorize the connection:
Click Authorize and switch back to VS Code.
Back in VS Code, it confirms you're logged in:
Login confirmed. Almost there.
Next it shows security notes. Read them or don't, then press Enter.
Standard disclaimer. Press Enter to continue.
Now it wants to know about terminal settings.
Say yes. This makes Shift+Enter work for new lines, which you'll use constantly.
Last step: it checks if you trust the project folder.
Your own project? Trust it. Random folder from the internet? Maybe don't.
That's it. You're in. The whole setup takes about a minute once you've done it before.
Claude Code ready to go. Type what you want to build and hit Enter.
When things break
"command not found" - Close VS Code, reopen, try again. Works embarrassingly often.
Permission errors - Paste the error into any AI chat and ask for help. That's what I do.
Login issues - The login opens in your browser. If it's not working, clear browser cookies, try incognito, log in again.
Anything else - Screenshot the error and paste it into any AI chat. Ask it to help. No shame in that. I do the same thing every day. My entire debugging strategy is asking AI to fix the AI setup.
Summary
Install Claude Code. Type claude in your project folder. When something breaks, screenshot it and ask AI.
If I figured this out as a designer who's never written a line of code, you'll be fine.
Oh, and for those of us who appreciate readable font sizes: Cmd+= (or Ctrl+= on Windows) zooms in the whole VS Code window, terminal included. Killer feature.
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