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Terminal Setup, Step by Step

About 5 minutes, and you only do it once. If a step doesn't work the first time, each one tells you exactly what to check. (Rather skip the terminal entirely? The desktop app path needs none of this.)

1Open the app where you'll type

Claude Code runs inside a simple app that already comes with your computer. Instead of clicking buttons, you type a short line and press Enter — that's all you'll do here.

MacPress Cmd + Space, type Terminal, press Enter. A small window opens with a blinking cursor — that's where you type.
WindowsClick the Start menu, type PowerShell, press Enter. (If Windows shows more than one option, pick the one simply called "Windows PowerShell.")

2One quick setup step (Windows only)

MacNothing to do — go straight to Step 3.
WindowsClaude Code works best with a small, free tool called Git installed. Go to git-scm.com/download/win (the download starts on its own), open the file, and click Next through the installer — the defaults are exactly right. Then close PowerShell and open a fresh one so it notices the new tool.

Not sure if you already have Git? Plenty of Windows computers do. Skip ahead and try Step 3 — if you later see an error mentioning "git" or "bash," come back here.

3Install Claude Code

Copy the line for your computer, paste it into the window from Step 1, and press Enter. Text will scroll by for a minute or two — that's it working. Wait until your cursor comes back.

Mac — Terminal
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
Windows — PowerShell
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex

Is this safe to paste? Yes — it downloads Claude Code's official installer straight from Anthropic (the makers of Claude), the exact method published on their own site. It's self-contained: no Node.js or other developer tools get installed (on Windows, the only companion is the Git tool from Step 2).

4Check it worked

When the scrolling stops, type this and press Enter:

Terminal
claude --version

If you see a version number, you're done with this step.

See "not recognized" or "not found" instead? That almost always just means the window needs a fresh start: close it completely, open a new one (Step 1), and try again. Still stuck? Re-run the Step 3 line in the fresh window — and if anything still seems off, type claude doctor for a plain-language checkup of your setup.

5Sign in

Type claude and press Enter. A short sign-in starts — when it asks how to log in, choose "Claude account with subscription" (not "Anthropic Console"). Your browser opens to log in, then you come back to this window.

No Claude account yet? Sign up at claude.ai first. A Pro account is recommended for the course exercises.

✓ You're set — install the course

With Claude open (you'll see its welcome message), paste these one at a time:

In Claude Code — paste one line at a time
/plugin marketplace add Till-CFO/finance-engineer-course
/plugin install finance-engineer-course@finance-engineer-course
/start-1-1

That last one starts Module 1 — Claude takes it from there.