How do I install Claude Code on a Mac?

Read the video transcript

1. 0:00 SMGP explains. How to install Claude Code on a Mac. In about ninety seconds.
2. 0:06 Claude Code is a coding agent that lives in your terminal.
3. 0:08 You describe the task. It reads, edits and runs.
4. 0:14 What you need first.
5. 0:16 A Mac on a recent macOS.
6. 0:17 A paid Claude plan, or a Console account.
7. 0:19 An internet connection.
8. 0:20 Terminal. It is already on your Mac.
9. 0:26 Install these three first.
10. 0:27 Homebrew. One command. It adds tools to a Mac.
11. 0:29 Node.js from Homebrew. It brings npm and npx.
12. 0:30 Git. It arrives with Apple's command line tools.
13. 0:36 Open Terminal and paste one command.
14. 0:38 curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
15. 0:40 It shows no progress while it downloads. That is normal.
16. 0:47 Then three checks.
17. 0:48 Open a new terminal window.
18. 0:50 Run claude --version. A version number means it worked.
19. 0:51 Run claude doctor for the full report.
20. 0:57 Move into a project folder and type claude.
21. 0:59 Log in once in your browser. Then describe your first task.
22. 1:05 Three habits that make it stick.
23. 1:07 Give it a task you can check.
24. 1:08 Add a CLAUDE.md file with your standing rules.
25. 1:10 Connect your other tools with MCP.
26. 1:15 This is where AI engineering starts.
27. 1:18 The install is the easy part. Deciding what to build first is the job.
28. 1:24 SMGP. Embedded GTM engineering and embedded AI engineering. smgp.co

What is Claude Code, in one paragraph?

Claude Code is Anthropic’s agentic coding tool. You give it a task in plain English, and it reads your project, edits the files, runs the commands and shows you what changed. It runs in the terminal, inside VS Code and JetBrains editors, in a desktop app, and in the browser at claude.ai/code. This guide covers the terminal install on a Mac, which is the version we use every day.

The whole process takes about fifteen minutes if your Mac is up to date: a few of them for the three tools we put on every Mac first, and about five for Claude Code itself. You will need an internet connection and a paid Claude plan, which we cover next.

What do you need before you start?

Check these four things before you open Terminal.

• A Mac on macOS 13 or later. Click the Apple menu, then About This Mac, to see your version.
• A Claude account on a paid plan. Claude Code needs a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise subscription, or an Anthropic Console account that bills by usage. The free claude.ai plan does not include Claude Code.
• An internet connection. The installer downloads the app, and every session talks to Anthropic’s servers.
• Terminal. It is already on your Mac, and so is the shell it runs: every Mac ships with Zsh and Bash, and Claude Code works in either. Open Spotlight with Command and Space, type Terminal, and press Return.

That is the full list for the install itself. The installer does not need Node.js, Homebrew or Xcode. We still put three tools on every Mac before Claude Code, and the next section explains why.

What should you install first, before Claude Code?

The installer needs none of this. Claude Code does, usually within the first week. Most MCP servers, the connectors that let Claude Code operate your other software, start with npx, which comes with Node.js. Claude Code saves and undoes its work with Git. And when it needs a tool the Mac does not have, it asks you to install it with Homebrew. Put the three in place now and the first week has no detours.

1. Install Homebrew, the package manager for the Mac. Paste this in Terminal and press Return. It explains what it is about to do, asks for your Mac password, and installs Apple’s Command Line Tools if the Mac does not have them yet. Git comes with those tools.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

2. Read the “Next steps” the installer prints at the end and run the commands it shows. They add Homebrew to your PATH so brew works in every new window. Skip this and the next step fails with “command not found”.

3. Open a new Terminal window and install Node.js. It brings npm and npx with it.

brew install node

4. Check all three. Each command prints a version number.

brew --version
node --version
npx --version
git --version

Homebrew supports Apple silicon Macs on macOS Sequoia or newer. Its installer stops on an Intel Mac and warns on an older macOS. If that is your Mac, install Node.js with the installer from nodejs.org, get Git by running xcode-select --install, and carry on. Claude Code itself installs the same way on every supported Mac.

How do you install Claude Code with the one-line installer?

This is the method Anthropic recommends, and the one we use. It downloads a native app that keeps itself up to date.

1. Open Terminal.
2. Paste this command and press Return. It downloads the installer script and runs it.

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

3. Wait. The command shows no progress while it downloads, so a quiet window for a minute or two is normal. It prints a message when it finishes.
4. Close that Terminal window and open a new one. The new window picks up the install location.
5. Run the version check. A working install prints a version number.

claude --version

If your shell answers with “command not found”, the install directory is not on your PATH yet. A fresh terminal window usually fixes it. If it does not, the troubleshooting page matches the exact error to a fix.

Native installs update themselves in the background. You install once and stay current without thinking about it.

Are there other ways to install it on a Mac?

Three, and the first two are ready to use once Homebrew and Node.js are on the Mac. Neither terminal route updates itself, so you take on that chore.

Homebrew. With Homebrew installed, you can add Claude Code as a cask. The claude-code cask follows the stable channel, which runs about a week behind and skips any release with a serious problem. The claude-code@latest cask follows every release the day it ships.

brew install --cask claude-code

Homebrew installs do not auto-update. Run this when you want the latest version.

brew upgrade claude-code

npm. With Node.js 22 or later installed, you can add Claude Code as a global npm package. It installs the same native app as the standalone installer, so it does not run on your Node.js afterwards.

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

Never run that command with sudo. It causes permission problems later and is a security risk. If npm reports a permissions error, the troubleshooting page has the fix.

No terminal at all. The Claude desktop app for macOS includes Claude Code. Download it from claude.com/download, sign in, and click the Code tab. You get the same tool with a visual view of every change, several sessions side by side, and no command line. It runs on both Intel and Apple silicon Macs. There is also a VS Code extension: open the Extensions view, search for Claude Code, and install it. Both need the same paid plan.

Our advice: unless you already have a strong Homebrew or npm habit, use the one-line installer and forget about updates.

How do you log in and start your first session?

Claude Code runs inside a project folder, so move into one first. Any folder works for a first test, even an empty one.

1. In Terminal, change into the folder you want to work in. Replace the path with your own.

cd ~/Documents/your-project

2. Start Claude Code.

claude

3. The first time, Claude Code opens your browser and asks you to log in to your Claude account. Approve it, then return to Terminal. If you have an Anthropic API key set in your environment, Claude Code asks whether to use that instead and skips the login.
4. You are in an interactive session. Type a request in plain English, for example “explain what this project does”, and press Return.

From here Claude Code reads the files, proposes changes and asks permission before it edits a file or runs a command. Say yes to what you understand and no to what you do not.

How do you check the install is healthy?

Two commands tell you everything you need.

claude --version

The version check confirms the app is installed and on your PATH. For a fuller read, run the doctor command. It prints the install health, any settings problems and the result of the last update attempt, without starting a session.

claude doctor

Native installs update on their own, but you can force an update at any time.

claude update

Inside a session, /config lets you choose the update channel. “Latest” gets new features the day they ship. “Stable” runs a version about a week old that skips any release with a serious problem.

What should you do in your first ten minutes?

Three things turn the install into a tool you will actually use.

Give it a task you understand. Ask Claude Code to explain a project, write a small script that renames files in a folder, or summarize a CSV. You learn how it works by watching it work on something you can check.

Add a CLAUDE.md file. Claude Code reads a file named CLAUDE.md in the project folder at the start of every session. Put your standing instructions there: what the project is, how you like things done, what to never touch. It is the single highest-leverage habit in the tool.

Connect your other tools. Claude Code speaks the Model Context Protocol, which lets it operate your other software, and most of those servers start with the npx you installed earlier. Run /mcp inside a session to see what is connected. The first connection we recommend is your automation platform, n8n, through its MCP server, because that is where the work a business actually runs on lives.

How do you uninstall it?

If you used the native installer, remove the launcher and the version folder.

rm -f ~/.local/bin/claude
rm -rf ~/.local/share/claude

If you installed with Homebrew, remove the cask.

brew uninstall --cask claude-code

If you installed with npm, remove the global package.

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

Your settings, allowed tools and session history live in ~/.claude and ~/.claude.json. Leave them alone if you might come back. Delete them only if you want a clean slate.

Where does this fit in an AI-run company?

AI engineering, the kind we do inside client companies, starts with exactly this install. Claude Code is the tool we use to build the internal software a business runs on: the invoicing that sends itself, the reports that compute from the systems of record, the company memory that files every call. The install is the easy part. The judgment about what to build first is the job, and we describe it on our embedded AI engineering page.

If you want to see what the tool looks like when it has been running a company for a while, our how we run on AI page lists the systems SMGP itself runs on, most of them built with Claude Code and n8n. Install the tool tonight, give it one real task tomorrow, and you will understand the rest of that page.

Written by Lucas Mack

Lucas is the founder and CEO of SMGP. He has done every job in the company, runs the strategy and the sales, and built every system SMGP runs on, from the outbound engine to the finance software. He writes about what he builds and what he has learned building it.

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