Free guide · One-time setup

Set up Claude Code on your computer

This is the one-time setup behind every Claude Code guide on this site, like our AI video editing walkthrough. You install two free things, no terminal and no commands. About 10 minutes and you never have to do it again.

What you're installing, and why

Claude Desktop is the app you talk to. It has three tabs across the top: Chat, Cowork and Code. The Code tab is where the guides happen.
Node.js is a small free tool that the open-source editors and utilities in these guides run on. Claude Code itself does not need it, the app carries its own. You install it once and forget it.
Git used to be required on Windows before the Code tab would open at all. Since the 8 September 2026 release it is not. Keep it as a fallback rather than a first step.

What is GitHub, and do I need an account? No. Free tools like the video-use editor are open source and live on GitHub, a public library for code. When a guide says “set up this GitHub link”, Claude downloads the tool for you in the Code tab. You never sign up for anything or touch GitHub yourself.

1Get a paid Claude plan

The Code tab needs a paid plan. Pro ($20/month USD) works to get started. Max 5x is strongly recommended for real work: no usage limits and stronger models. You can subscribe for one month and cancel anytime.

View Claude pricing

2Install Claude Desktop

Download Claude Desktop (Windows and macOS), run the installer, and sign in. Once it's open, you'll see the three tabs across the top: Chat, Cowork and Code.

Download Claude Desktop

3Install Node.js, which the guides' tools run on

Go to nodejs.org and download the LTS version (the big green button). Run the installer and click Next through everything. Nothing else to do. This one is for the tools the guides install, such as the video-use editor. Claude Code itself does not need it.

Download Node.js (LTS)

4Git, and why you can probably skip it

This used to be the step most people missed: on Windows the Code tab would not open at all without Git. The 8 September 2026 release removed that. A current Claude opens a session with no Git on the machine. Open Claude, let it update, and only come back here if it still asks. Git is also still used behind the scenes if you run several Claude sessions side by side.

Windows: click the link below, download Git for Windows, run the installer, click Next through all the defaults, then restart Claude.

Mac: the first time you open the Code tab, if a small window pops up asking to install developer tools, click Install and you're done.

Download Git for Windows

You do not need to type anything into a terminal. Download, run the installer, restart Claude, and you're ready.

5Open the Code tab and check it works

In Claude Desktop, click the Code tab. Set the environment selector at the top of the prompt box to Local. If it asks Trust this workspace? for a folder you opened, click Trust Workspace. If the Code tab opens, you're set up.

Code tab won't open on Windows? Your app is older than 8 September 2026. Let it update and try again. If you cannot update, install Git (Step 4), restart Claude, and try again.

Windows on ARM (Surface Pro X, Snapdragon laptops): we have not got Cowork running on its own hardware on an ARM machine. The Code tab still works, so the guides are fine.

You're set up. What now?

That's the hard part done once. Now pick a guide and build something. Each one tells Claude what to do in plain English.

Edit social videos with AI. Turn a raw phone clip into a polished, captioned social video.
Browse all our free guides. More Claude Code walkthroughs and playbooks.

Last updated 9 September 2026 · by Leonardo Garcia-Curtis