Most AI coding assistants live in your browser or IDE. Claude Code lives in your terminal—and that changes everything.
What is Claude Code?
Claude Code is an agentic coding tool from Anthropic that:
- Lives in your terminal (no browser needed)
- Understands your entire codebase
- Handles git workflows (commits, PRs, branches)
- Executes routine tasks through natural language
- Can be tagged directly on GitHub (
@claude)
It's not just autocomplete. It's a full coding agent that can read your code, understand context, and make changes across multiple files.
Installation
# MacOS/Linux (Recommended)
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
# Homebrew
brew install --cask claude-code
# Windows
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
Then navigate to your project and run:
cd your-project
claude
Key Features
Codebase Understanding
Claude Code reads your entire project structure, understands imports, dependencies, and patterns. Ask it to explain complex code or find where a function is defined.
Git Workflows
# Natural language git operations
"Create a branch for the auth feature and commit these changes"
"Open a PR with these changes"
"Explain what changed in the last 5 commits"
Multi-file Edits
Make coordinated changes across multiple files—rename a function and update all imports in one command.
GitHub Integration
Tag @claude on GitHub issues and PRs. The agent can read context and suggest fixes directly.
Why Terminal-First Matters
No context switching - Stay in your development environment Scriptable - Integrate with your existing shell workflows Works over SSH - Use on remote servers and VPS Lightweight - No heavy IDE plugins or browser tabs
Plugins Ecosystem
Claude Code supports plugins for custom commands and agents. Check the plugins directory for community extensions.
Data & Privacy
Anthropic collects usage data (accept/reject rates, conversation data) but:
- Limited retention for sensitive info
- Restricted access to session data
- No training on your code without consent
When to Use Claude Code
| Use Case | Good Fit? |
|---|---|
| Refactoring large codebases | ✅ Excellent |
| Understanding legacy code | ✅ Excellent |
| Routine git operations | ✅ Great |
| Quick prototypes | ✅ Good |
| Browser-based work | ❌ Use v0 instead |
| Multi-step deployments | ❌ Use CI/CD |
Bottom Line
Claude Code brings agentic coding to where developers already live: the terminal. If you're comfortable with CLI workflows, it's worth adding to your toolkit alongside browser-based tools like v0.
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