Claude Code Guide

[](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code) [](https://claude.ai/code)

| Section | Status | Other Resources | | ------------------------------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Getting Started | ✅ | Claude-Code Docs | | Configuration & Environment Variables | ✅ | Claude-Code via Discord | | Commands & Usage | ✅ | Security Agents SKILL.md | | Interface & Input | ✅ | Let Agent Create SKILL.md | | Advanced Features | ✅ | 954+ Agent Skills | | Automation & Integration | ✅ | No cost ai resources | | Help & Troubleshooting | ✅ | 250+ Mermaid templates | | Third-Party Integrations | ✅ | Discord Communication MCP |

Contents

Fast paths: [Install](#quick-start) · [Commands](#claude-commands) · [Config](#configuration--environment) · [MCP](#mcp-integration) · [Agents](#sub-agents) · [Troubleshoot](#help--troubleshooting)

| Area | Start here | Also useful | | --- | --- | --- | | [Getting Started](#getting-started) | [Quick Start](#quick-start) | [Initial Setup](#initial-setup), [System Requirements](#system-requirements) | | [Configuration](#configuration--environment) | [Environment Variables](#environment-variables) | [Configuration Files](#configuration-files) | | [Commands](#commands--usage) | [Slash Commands](#claude-commands) | [CLI Quick Reference](#cheat-sheet) | | [Interface](#interface--input) | [Keyboard Shortcuts](#keyboard-shortcuts) | [Vim Mode](#vim-mode) | | [Advanced Features](#advanced-features) | [Plan Mode](#plan-mode), [Auto Mode](#auto-mode), [MCP](#mcp-integration) | [Sub Agents](#sub-agents), [Skills](#skills), [Hooks](#hooks-system) | | [Security](#security--permissions) | [Security & Permissions](#security--permissions) | [Dangerous Mode](#dangerous-mode), [Best Practices](#security-best-practices-main) | | [Automation](#automation--integration) | [Automation & Scripting](#automation--scripting-with-claude-code) | [PR Review](#auto-pr-review-inline-comments), [Issue Triage](#issue-triage-suggest-labels--severity) | | [Help](#help--troubleshooting) | [Troubleshooting](#help--troubleshooting) | [Best Practices](#best-practices), [Monitoring](#monitoring--alerting) | | [Third-Party Integrations](#third-party-integrations) | [DeepSeek Integration](#deepseek-integration) | [Provider Setup Examples](#provider-setup-examples) |

Full content map

• [Getting Started](#getting-started)
• [Quick Start](#quick-start)
• [System Requirements](#system-requirements)
• [Initial Setup](#initial-setup)

• [Configuration & Environment](#configuration--environment)
• [Environment Variables](#environment-variables)
• [Configuration Files](#configuration-files)

• [Commands & Usage](#commands--usage)
• [Slash Command Reference](#claude-commands)
• [CLI Quick Reference](#cheat-sheet)

• [Interface & Input](#interface--input)
• [Keyboard Shortcuts](#keyboard-shortcuts)
• [Vim Mode](#vim-mode)

• [Advanced Features](#advanced-features)
• [Thinking Mode](#thinking-keywords)
• [Effort Levels](#effort-levels)
• [Fast Mode](#fast-mode)
• [Auto Mode](#auto-mode)
• [Plan Mode](#plan-mode)
• [Background Tasks](#background-tasks)
• [Workflows & Scheduling](#workflows--scheduling)
• [Remote Sessions](#remote-sessions)
• [Claude in Chrome](#claude-in-chrome)
• [Sandbox Mode](#sandbox-mode)
• [LSP Tool](#lsp-tool)
• [Sub Agents](#sub-agents)
• [Agent Teams](#agent-teams)
• [Skills](#skills)
• [Plugin System](#plugin-system)
• [Worktree Isolation](#worktree-isolation)
• [Native Installer](#native-installer)
• [Authentication CLI](#claude-auth)
• [Agent Management CLI](#claude-agents-cli)
• [Remote Control](#remote-control)
• [Managed Settings](#managed-settings)
• [Model Updates](#model-updates)
• [Theming & Customization](#theming--customization)
• [Code Review](#code-review)
• [Insights](#insights)
• [MCP Integration](#mcp-integration)
• [Hooks System](#hooks-system)

• [Security & Permissions](#security--permissions)
• [Dangerous Mode](#dangerous-mode)
• [Security Best Practices](#security-best-practices-main)

• [Automation & Integration](#automation--integration)
• [Automation & Scripting](#automation--scripting-with-claude-code)
• [Auto PR Review](#auto-pr-review-inline-comments)
• [Issue Triage](#issue-triage-suggest-labels--severity)

• [Help & Troubleshooting](#help--troubleshooting)
• [Installation Issues](#installation--nodejs-issues)
• [MCP Issues](#mcp-model-context-protocol-issues)
• [Best Practices](#best-practices)
• [Monitoring & Alerting](#monitoring--alerting)

• [Third-Party Integrations](#third-party-integrations)
• [Provider Setup Examples](#provider-setup-examples)
• [DeepSeek Integration](#deepseek-integration)

Getting Started

Enable sound alerts when claude completes the task:

> claude config set --global preferredNotifChannel terminal_bell

Quick Start

> [!TIP] > Send claude or npx claude in terminal to start the interface > > Go to [Help & Troubleshooting](#help--troubleshooting) to fix issues...

# Native Installer (preferred — no Node.js required) ⭐️
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Windows
/* Via CMD (native)      */ curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.cmd -o install.cmd && install.cmd && del install.cmd
/* Via Powershell        */ irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# macOS / Linux / WSL
/* Via Terminal          */ curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Arch
/* Via Terminal          */ yay -S claude-code*/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Alternative (npm) — useful when your environment already standardizes on Node.js
# Requires Node.js 18+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Windows
/* Via CMD (npm)         */ npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# macOS
/* Via Terminal          */ brew install node && npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Linux
/* Via Terminal          */ sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y nodejs npm
/* Via Terminal          */ npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# WSL/GIT
/* Via Terminal          */ npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Docker
/* Windows (CMD)         */ docker run -it --rm -v "%cd%:/workspace" -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-your-key" node:20-slim bash -lc "npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code && cd /workspace && claude"
/* macOS/Linux (bash/zsh)*/ docker run -it --rm -v "$PWD:/workspace" -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-your-key" node:20-slim bash -lc 'npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code && cd /workspace && claude'
/* No bash Fallback      */ docker run -it --rm -v "$PWD:/workspace" -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-your-key" node:20-slim sh -lc 'npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code && cd /workspace && claude'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Check if claude is installed correctly
/* Linux                 */ which claude
/* Windows               */ where claude
/* Universal             */ claude --version
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Common Management
/*claude config          */ Configure settings
/*claude mcp list        */ Setup MCP servers, you can also replace "list" with add/remove
/*claude agents          */ Open the agent/session dashboard
/*claude update          */ Run a manual update check

> [!Tip] > Open Project Via Terminal Into VS Code / Cursor > > ### $ - cd /path/to/project > > ### $ - code . > > Make sure you have the (Claude Code extension) installed in your VS Code / Cursor

System Requirements

> - OS: macOS 10.15+, Ubuntu 20.04+/Debian 10+, or Windows 10/11 or WSL

> - Hardware: 4GB RAM minimum 8GB+ recommended

> - Software: Git 2.23+ is optional for PR/worktree workflows. Node.js 18+ is only required for npm-based installation; the native installer bundles its own runtime.

> - Internet: Connection for API calls

Initial Setup

> [!Tip] > Find API key from Anthropic Console > > Do NOT commit real keys use git-ignored files, OS key stores, or secret managers

# Universal
/* Authenticate via Anthropic account     */ claude auth login
/* Authenticate via Console/API billing   */ claude auth login --console
/* Switch accounts inside Claude          */ /login
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Windows
/* Set-api-key        */ set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-your-key-here-here
/* cmd-masked-check   */ echo OK: %ANTHROPIC_API_KEY:~0,8%***
/* Set-persistent-key */ setx ANTHROPIC_API_KEY "sk-your-key-here-here"
/* cmd-unset-key      */ set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Linux
/* Set-api-key        */ export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here-here"
/* masked-check       */ echo "OK: ${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY:0:8}***"
/* remove-session     */ unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Powershell
/* ps-session         */ $env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "sk-your-key-here-here"
/* ps-masked-check    */ "OK: $($env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.Substring(0,8))***"
/* ps-persist         */ [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("ANTHROPIC_API_KEY","sk-your-key-here-here","User")
/* ps-rotate          */ $env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "sk-new-key"
/* ps-remove          */ Remove-Item Env:\ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Other...
# persist-bash/*      */ echo 'export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here-here"' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
# persist-zsh /*      */ echo 'export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here-here"' >> ~/.zshrc  && source ~/.zshrc
# persist-fish/*      */ fish -lc 'set -Ux ANTHROPIC_API_KEY sk-your-key-here-here'
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Configuration & Environment

Environment Variables

> You can also set any of these in settings.json under the "env" key for automatic application.

> [!Important] > Windows Users replace export with set or setx for perm

# Environment toggles (put in ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here-here"      # API key sent as X-Api-Key header (interactive usage: /login)
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="my-auth-token"           # Custom Authorization header; Claude adds "Bearer " prefix automatically
export ANTHROPIC_CUSTOM_HEADERS="X-Trace-Id: 12345"   # Extra request headers (format: "Name: Value")

export ANTHROPIC_MODEL="sonnet"                                  # Custom model name or alias to use
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL="sonnet"                   # Default Sonnet alias or pinned Sonnet model ID
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL="opus"                       # Default Opus alias or pinned Opus model ID
export ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL="haiku-model"                  # Haiku-class model for background tasks (placeholder)
export ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL_AWS_REGION="REGION"            # Override AWS region for the small/fast model on Bedrock (placeholder)

export AWS_BEARER_TOKEN_BEDROCK="bedrock_..."         # Amazon Bedrock API key/token for authentication

export BASH_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS=60000                  # Default timeout (ms) for long-running bash commands
export BASH_MAX_TIMEOUT_MS=300000                     # Maximum timeout (ms) allowed for long-running bash commands
export BASH_MAX_OUTPUT_LENGTH=20000                   # Max characters in bash outputs before middle-truncation

export CLAUDE_BASH_MAINTAIN_PROJECT_WORKING_DIR=1     # (0 or 1) return to original project dir after each Bash command
export CLAUDE_BASH_NO_LOGIN=1                         # Force BashTool to skip login shell startup files
export CLAUDE_CODE_API_KEY_HELPER_TTL_MS=600000       # Interval (ms) to refresh creds when using apiKeyHelper
export CLAUDE_CODE_IDE_SKIP_AUTO_INSTALL=1            # (0 or 1) skip auto-installation of IDE extensions
export CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=4096             # Max number of output tokens for most requests

export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK=1                      # (0 or 1) use Amazon Bedrock
export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_VERTEX=0                       # (0 or 1) use Google Vertex AI
export CLAUDE_CODE_SKIP_BEDROCK_AUTH=0                # (0 or 1) skip AWS auth for Bedrock (e.g., via LLM gateway)
export CLAUDE_CODE_SKIP_VERTEX_AUTH=0                 # (0 or 1) skip Google auth for Vertex (e.g., via LLM gateway)

export CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=0     # (0 or 1) disable nonessential traffic (equivalent to DISABLE_* below)
export CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_TERMINAL_TITLE=0           # (0 or 1) disable automatic terminal title updates

export CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1

…

## Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [zebbern](https://github.com/zebbern)
- **Source:** [zebbern/claude-code-guide](https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.