What should I type first in Claude Code?

Open it inside an empty practice folder and type: "Look at this folder and tell me what you see. Then create a file called about-my-business.md describing my business — ask me questions first." Watching it interview you and then create a real file teaches you the whole interaction model in five minutes.

Can Claude Code break my computer?

Practically speaking, no — it works inside the folder you open it in and asks permission before running commands. The real risk is messing up files in a project you care about, which is why your first sessions happen in a practice folder, with version control as an undo button from day one.

Does Claude Code work on Windows?

Yes. As of July 2026, Claude Code runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. The setup steps differ slightly per platform — follow the official install guide at code.claude.com for yours, and if any step mentions something unfamiliar, paste it into Claude chat and ask for a plain-English explanation.

What is a CLAUDE.md file?

It's a note pinned to the workbench: a plain-text file in your project folder that Claude Code automatically reads at the start of every session. Yours should say who you are, what the project is, and your house rules. It's the difference between briefing a new temp every morning and working with someone who knows the job.

Do I need to learn the terminal before starting?

You need about 90 minutes of it, not a course. Open the terminal panel inside VS Code, learn what a folder path is, and let Claude Code handle the rest — you can ask it to explain any command before running it. The terminal is where it lives; conversation is how you use it.

How long until I can build something real?

Your first session — about 90 minutes including setup — should end with something real but tiny, like a one-page site or an organized notes file. Comfortable fluency takes two to three weeks at three to five hours per week. Anyone promising a business transformed by the weekend is selling something.

How to Use Claude Code When You've Never Touched a Terminal

There’s a comment under one of the big “Claude Code for beginners” tutorials that deserves a plaque: “proceeds to say 12 things I’ve never heard of in the first 30 seconds.” That’s the state of learning how to use Claude Code right now — brilliant teachers with amnesia about what beginners actually know.

So this walkthrough makes a promise: no unexplained words. If a step involves the terminal, I’ll tell you what the terminal is. You’ll go from nothing installed to a real first project in one sitting, with the exact prompts to type.

(If you want the bigger picture first — what Claude Code is and whether it’s for you — start with the complete guide and come back.)

Before you start: the checklist

A computer — Mac or Windows both work (as of July 2026).
A Claude Pro subscription ($20/month — full cost breakdown here).
VS Code, a free program we’ll install below.
One small, real project in mind. Not “automate my business” — something like “a one-page site for my offer” or “organize my messy notes folder.” Real beats impressive.

Budget 90 minutes for the whole first session, and expect to feel lost twice. Both times the fix is the same move: ask Claude Code itself what just happened.

Step 1: Set up the cockpit (15 minutes)

Download and install VS Code(free, from code.visualstudio.com). It’s not a programmer initiation — it’s a file editor: your folders on the left, file contents in the middle. We use it because of one feature: the built-in terminal panel.

About that word. The terminal is a text window where you type commands instead of clicking buttons. That’s the entire concept.

Inside VS Code it’s a small panel at the bottom of the screen (View menu → Terminal), which matters psychologically: it’s a chat box in the corner of a friendly app, not a full-screen black void.

One of our members told me he “didn’t think Terminal was something open to someone like me who just plays around with things.” It is. It’s a text box.

Then create your practice space: make an empty folder on your Desktop called playground, and open it in VS Code (File → Open Folder). Rule one, worth repeating from every guide I write: Claude Code works inside the folder you open, so first sessions happen here — never in files you can’t afford to scramble.

Step 2: Install Claude Code (15 minutes)

Follow the official quickstart at code.claude.com for your platform, and sign in with your Claude Pro account when prompted. I’m deliberately not reproducing the install commands here — they change, and stale instructions are worse than none.

Instead, take the trick that carries every non-technical builder through every install guide ever written: when a step says something you don’t recognize, copy the whole step, paste it into regular Claude chat, and say “explain this like I’ve never used a terminal, then tell me exactly what to type.” You are never actually stuck.

Step 3: The first conversation (20 minutes)

In the VS Code terminal panel, with your playground folder open, start Claude Code (the install guide gives you the command — it’s typing claude and pressing Enter). Then run this exact sequence, one message at a time:

“Look at this folder and tell me what you see.” (It’ll say it’s empty. Now you know it can see.)
“Create a file called about-my-business.md that describes my business. Ask me questions first, then write it.” (Answer its questions. Watch a real file appear in the sidebar.)
“Now make a simple one-page website about my business using that file. Open it in my browser when it’s done.”
“Explain what you just made, file by file, in plain English.”

That fourth prompt is the secret habit. Claude Code narrates everything it does, and it will happily teach you its own work.

Members who interrogate every step learn in weeks what tutorial bingers never learn — because, as one of our members put it, most videos “purport to teach vibe coding but do not really do that.” Your AI, questioned relentlessly, is the better teacher.

Step 4: Teach it your business with CLAUDE.md (10 minutes)

Ask Claude Code: “Create a CLAUDE.md file for this project based on about-my-business.md — include who I am, what this project is, and these rules: explain technical things in plain English, and ask before deleting anything.”

CLAUDE.md is a note pinned to the workbench — Claude Code reads it automatically at the start of every session. This one file is the difference between re-briefing a temp every morning and working with someone who knows the job.

It’s also your first taste of a much bigger idea: the AI harness — the owned structure around the model that makes it reliable.

Step 5: Install the undo button (5 minutes)

Before building anything you care about, type: “Set up version control in this folder so I can undo any change. Explain what you did in one paragraph.”

It will set up git — the undo system programmers use — and from then on you can always say “undo everything since this morning” and mean it. You never need to learn how it works to be protected by it.

Step 6: Three first projects worth building

The one-page site (60–90 min). You’ve got the draft from Step 3 — now refine it and ask Claude Code to help you publish it free on a service like Netlify. One of our members went from zero to a deployed website in under an hour; your mileage will vary, and that’s fine.
The notes miner (30–60 min).Drop exported notes, transcripts, or old drafts into a folder and ask: “Read everything here and produce a summary of the ten best ideas, with quotes.” First taste of delegating reading.
The repurposer draft (45 min).Give it one piece of your long-form content and your about-my-business.md: “Draft three short posts from this in my voice.” Then edit — and notice what you correct, because those corrections belong in CLAUDE.md. That loop — work, correct, fold the correction into the system — is the entire craft in miniature.

Where to go from here

You now know more from doing than most people know from watching. Next steps in order: turn your repeating processes into skills so the AI follows them automatically, then start thinking in harness terms about the whole system.

If you’d rather climb with a clear order, feedback on your real builds, and a crew to ask at 11pm — AI Captains Academy starts exactly here (Module 0 assumes nothing), at $83/month or $497/year with a 7-day free trial.

Either way: keep building. Keep failing. Keep learning.

Questions people actually ask

What should I type first in Claude Code?: Open it inside an empty practice folder and type: "Look at this folder and tell me what you see. Then create a file called about-my-business.md describing my business — ask me questions first." Watching it interview you and then create a real file teaches you the whole interaction model in five minutes.
Can Claude Code break my computer?: Practically speaking, no — it works inside the folder you open it in and asks permission before running commands. The real risk is messing up files in a project you care about, which is why your first sessions happen in a practice folder, with version control as an undo button from day one.
Does Claude Code work on Windows?: Yes. As of July 2026, Claude Code runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. The setup steps differ slightly per platform — follow the official install guide at code.claude.com for yours, and if any step mentions something unfamiliar, paste it into Claude chat and ask for a plain-English explanation.
What is a CLAUDE.md file?: It's a note pinned to the workbench: a plain-text file in your project folder that Claude Code automatically reads at the start of every session. Yours should say who you are, what the project is, and your house rules. It's the difference between briefing a new temp every morning and working with someone who knows the job.
Do I need to learn the terminal before starting?: You need about 90 minutes of it, not a course. Open the terminal panel inside VS Code, learn what a folder path is, and let Claude Code handle the rest — you can ask it to explain any command before running it. The terminal is where it lives; conversation is how you use it.
How long until I can build something real?: Your first session — about 90 minutes including setup — should end with something real but tiny, like a one-page site or an organized notes file. Comfortable fluency takes two to three weeks at three to five hours per week. Anyone promising a business transformed by the weekend is selling something.