Claude Code

Claude Code is an agentic coding tool. You give it a task in plain language; it explores the codebase, edits files across the project, runs commands, checks its own work, and can commit and open pull requests.

It is a separate product from the Claude assistant, with its own documentation site (code.claude.com), its own configuration system and its own surfaces — but the same engine behind all of them, so your CLAUDE.md, settings and MCP servers travel between surfaces.

Where it runs

Surface	What it is for
Terminal	The full-featured CLI. Install via curl, Homebrew, WinGet, or apt/dnf/apk.
VS Code / Cursor	Extension with inline diffs, @-mentions, plan review and history.
JetBrains	Plugin for IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm and others. Requires the CLI.
Desktop app	macOS and Windows. Visual diff review, side-by-side sessions, scheduled tasks, cloud sessions.
Web	claude.ai/code. No local setup; good for long-running tasks and repos you do not have locally.
Mobile	Through the Claude app for iOS and Android.
GitHub / GitLab	Actions and CI/CD integration for automated review and issue triage.
Slack	Mention @Claude with a bug report, get a pull request back.
Chrome	Debugging live web applications.

What you configure

This is where most of the depth is, and where most of this reference’s Claude Code section lives:

• CLAUDE.md — persistent project instructions, read at the start of every session
• Auto memory — learnings Claude saves across sessions on its own
• Skills — packaged repeatable workflows, invocable as commands
• Hooks — shell commands that run before or after Claude Code actions
• MCP — connections to external tools and data
• Plugins — distributable bundles, installable from marketplaces
• Permissions — what Claude may do without asking
• Subagents and agent teams — parallel and delegated work
• Routines — scheduled cloud runs, triggered by time, API call or GitHub event

What it does not do

• Not available on the Free plan. Claude Code starts at Pro.
• Not a chat assistant. For open-ended knowledge work over documents rather than code, that is Cowork.
• Not sandboxed by default in every mode. Permission modes and sandboxing are explicit choices you make — see permissions.

Moving between surfaces

Sessions are not pinned to one place. claude --teleport pulls a web or mobile session into the terminal; /desktop continues a terminal session in the desktop app; Remote Control drives a local session from a phone or another device. The handoffs that involve claude.ai require a subscription.

Availability

Included from Pro upward, and available through the Claude Console with an API-billed account. The terminal CLI and VS Code extension also support third-party providers — Bedrock, Google Cloud and Microsoft Foundry.