Anthropic's AI coding helper. It reads your project's code, edits files, runs commands, and works with your other dev tools, in the terminal, your code editor, a desktop app, or the browser.
Pricing
Subscription: Anthropic's overview says most ways to use it need a Claude subscription or an Anthropic Console account. Based on Anthropic's Claude Code overview (Oct 27, 2026). See Anthropic's plans page for current prices.
Getting set up
Install it the official way for whichever setup you pick: the native install script, Homebrew, WinGet, a code-editor extension, the desktop app, or the web. Log in the first time you use it, or approve an ANTHROPIC_API_KEY when it asks. Anthropic's docs cover PATH fixes and troubleshooting.
The plain-English overview
Have a developer, or are you one, and want an AI that can work right in your code? Claude Code is an AI coding helper from Anthropic. According to Anthropic's overview page (we checked it on Oct 27, 2026), it reads your codebase, edits files, runs commands, and plugs into your development tools. You can use it in the terminal, in code editors, in a desktop app, and in the browser.
Here's what Anthropic says you can do with it: First, hand off the tedious jobs, like writing tests, fixing lint errors (small code-style problems), resolving merge conflicts, updating dependencies, and writing release notes. Next, describe a feature or a bug in plain language. It plans the approach and makes the changes across multiple files. Then, let it work with git (the tool developers use to track code changes). It can create commits and pull requests. It also connects to other tools through MCP, the Model Context Protocol (a standard way to plug AI into your other apps and data). You can customize it with a CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md instructions file, skills, and hooks. You can run several agents in parallel, or build your own with an Agent SDK (a developer toolkit). You can script it from the CLI, the command line where you type commands. And you can schedule recurring tasks in the cloud or on your desktop.
Where you can use it: the Terminal CLI; VS Code (Cursor install is mentioned too); the desktop app; the web at claude.ai/code; and a JetBrains plugin (that one needs the CLI installed). Anthropic says most of these need a Claude subscription or an Anthropic Console account, and some CLI and IDE setups also work with third-party providers.
Pricing: Anthropic's plans page has current prices for Claude Code. Everything here comes from Anthropic's official docs.
Sources
- Claude Code overview — Anthropic docs (checked Oct 27, 2026)
Where each fact came from
- Official url · checked Oct 27, 2026 · rechecked now and then — Claude Code overview — Anthropic docs
- What it can do · checked Oct 27, 2026 · rechecked regularly — Claude Code overview — Anthropic docs
- Where it runs · checked Oct 27, 2026 · rechecked regularly — Claude Code overview — Anthropic docs
- Pricing model · checked Oct 27, 2026 · rechecked often — Claude Code overview — Anthropic docs
- Pricing · checked Oct 27, 2026 · rechecked often — Claude Code overview — Anthropic docs
- Getting set up · checked Oct 27, 2026 · rechecked regularly — Claude Code overview — Anthropic docs
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