Installation

Install and configure Claude Code on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Updated 2026-09-25

On This Page

⚡ Recommended: one-click setup — a single command does everything on this page (endpoint speed test, config, Node.js / Claude Code install, connectivity check; no sudo). Keep reading for manual installation.

# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://qcode.cc/install/claude-code.sh | bash

# Windows PowerShell
irm https://qcode.cc/install/claude-code.ps1 | iex

See One-Click Setup Script for flags, troubleshooting and rollback.

📖 Wondering what to put in ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL, or which of the three access domains to pick? See Endpoints & API Paths.

Follow this guide to easily install and use Claude Code on your computer. The entire process takes just 5 minutes.

Prerequisites ¶

Claude Code requires Node.js to run. Please ensure you have Node.js 18.0 or above installed on your computer (22 LTS recommended).

Windows ¶

Step 1: Install Node.js ¶

Option A: Official Download (Recommended)¶

Open your browser and visit https://nodejs.org/
Click the "LTS" version download (recommended Long Term Support version)
Double-click the downloaded .msi file
Follow the installation wizard using default settings

Option B: Using Package Manager ¶

If you have Chocolatey or Scoop installed:

# Using Chocolatey
choco install nodejs

# Or using Scoop
scoop install nodejs

Verify Installation ¶

node --version
npm --version

Step 2: Install Claude Code ¶

Open PowerShell or CMD:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Verify installation:

claude --version

Step 3: Set Environment Variables ¶

Temporary (Current Session)¶

$env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL = "https://api.qcode.cc/api"
$env:ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN = "your-api-key"

Permanent (Recommended)¶

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL", "https://api.qcode.cc/api", [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User)
[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN", "your-api-key", [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User)

Replace your-api-key with your actual key from QCode.cc Dashboard.

Verify the settings ¶

echo $env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL
echo $env:ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN

Step 4: Start Using ¶

# Go to your project directory
cd C:\path\to\your\project

# Start Claude Code
claude

Windows FAQ ¶

Permission error?

Run PowerShell as Administrator
Or point npm at your user directory: npm config set prefix %APPDATA%\npm

PowerShell execution policy error?

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Environment variables not taking effect?

After setting them permanently, restart PowerShell or CMD
Or sign out of Windows and back in

macOS ¶

Step 1: Install Node.js ¶

Option A: Using Homebrew (Recommended)¶

brew update
brew install node

Option B: Official Download ¶

Visit https://nodejs.org/
Download the macOS LTS version
Open the downloaded .pkg file
Follow the installation instructions

Verify Installation ¶

node --version
npm --version

Step 2: Install Claude Code ¶

Option A: Using npm ¶

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

If you encounter permission issues:

sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Option B: Using Homebrew ¶

brew install --cask claude-code

Step 3: Set Environment Variables ¶

Temporary (Current Session)¶

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.qcode.cc/api"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-api-key"

Permanent (Recommended)¶

Edit your shell configuration file:

# For zsh (macOS default)
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.qcode.cc/api"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-api-key"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

# For bash
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.qcode.cc/api"' >> ~/.bash_profile
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-api-key"' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile

Replace your-api-key with your actual key from QCode.cc Dashboard.

Step 4: Start Using ¶

# Go to your project directory
cd /path/to/your/project

# Start Claude Code
claude

macOS FAQ ¶

Permission error?

Install with sudo: sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Or point npm at your user directory: npm config set prefix ~/.npm-global

macOS blocks the binary?

Open "System Settings" → "Privacy & Security"
Click "Open Anyway" or "Allow"

Linux / WSL2 ¶

Step 1: Install Node.js ¶

Option A: Using NodeSource (Recommended)¶

# Add the NodeSource repository
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo -E bash -

# Install Node.js
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Option B: Using System Package Manager ¶

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nodejs npm

# CentOS/RHEL/Fedora
sudo dnf install nodejs npm

Verify Installation ¶

node --version
npm --version

Step 2: Install Claude Code ¶

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

If you hit a permission problem:

sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Verify the installation:

claude --version

Step 3: Set Environment Variables ¶

Temporary ¶

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.qcode.cc/api"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-api-key"

Permanent ¶

# For bash (default)
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.qcode.cc/api"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-api-key"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# For zsh
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.qcode.cc/api"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="your-api-key"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Step 4: Start Using ¶

cd /path/to/your/project
claude

Linux FAQ ¶

Missing build dependencies?

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install build-essential

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"

Advanced Configuration (Optional Environment Variables)¶

Beyond the two required variables, you can customize further with these optional variables:

Specify the default model. We recommend setting Sonnet 5 explicitly. If unset, Claude Code uses its own built-in default for that CLI version — do not rely on a historical default name from this page. 4.x IDs such as claude-sonnet-4-6 and claude-opus-4-8 remain on sale.

# Daily recommendation (Sonnet 5)
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-sonnet-5

# Heavy work (Opus 5, higher cost)
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-opus-5

MAX_THINKING_TOKENS ¶

Control the maximum tokens for the model's thinking process (set to 0 to disable):

export MAX_THINKING_TOKENS=16000

CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL ¶

Adjust Claude's effort level:

# Options: low / medium / high
export CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL=high

CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC ¶

Disable non-essential network requests (e.g., telemetry):

export CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1

Next Steps ¶

Congratulations! You've successfully installed Claude Code. Next:

Check out Quick Start to learn basic usage
Explore CLI Tips to boost efficiency

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Endpoints & API Paths

Environment Variables

Installation

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