Where to Run It: Four Doors In

Four doors, one room

Before installing anything, it helps to know where you're installing it. Claude Code can be used from four places:

• The desktop app. A normal program, with its own window and buttons. Inside it has three tabs — Chat, Cowork and Code — and the one we'll use is Code. You'll find it on the official desktop app page, with links for Mac, Windows and Linux.

• The terminal. The window with text in it. It's where Claude Code was born and it's what you see in most videos out there. If you want to start from there, the official quickstart guide walks you through it.

• The code editor. If you already use one, Claude Code goes right inside it and works alongside your files.

• The browser. From a web page, with nothing to install on your computer.

The important thing: it's always the same tool. Same engine, same toolkit, same loop. Only what's in front of your eyes changes.

Which one we use in this course (and why)

From here on the main example is always the desktop app. Not because it's some scaled-down version for beginners — it's the same engine as the terminal, and the two even share the same settings — but because if you've never typed a command in your life, a window with buttons removes the one real obstacle in your way.

And right after, you'll always find the terminal alternative: where the same thing lives in the app, and which command does it from the command line. If you already use the terminal for work, you can follow the whole course from there without missing anything.

Either way, it's not a permanent choice: switching from one door to another doesn't require relearning anything.

What never changes

Whichever door you come in from, the same things apply: the agent's loop, the model you choose, the permissions you grant, the files it touches. Everything you'll see for the rest of the course is independent of the window.

What's next

With the door chosen, two things are needed before installing: an account with the right plan and a computer that can handle it. In the next lesson, what you actually need — and what you don't need at all.

Did you get it?

Two minutes, no grade. Trying to answer — even getting it wrong — cements the concepts far more than rereading. Not in the mood? Skip it: the lesson still counts as complete.

1Are the four doors (terminal, editor, browser, desktop app) four different tools?

Yes: each one has its own capabilities and has to be learned separately No: it's the same tool opened in four places, the concepts apply the same everywhere

2You've never opened a terminal in your life. Where do you start?

From the desktop app: it's a normal window, with the same capabilities From the terminal anyway: it's the only real way to use it From the browser, because you don't have to install anything