Features
- Terminal-based agentic coding assistant
- Reads, writes, and navigates codebases autonomously
- Runs tests, fixes errors, and creates commits
- Understands full project context
Pros
- Deep codebase understanding across large projects
- Autonomous multi-step task completion
- Works in any terminal, any editor, any language
Cons
- Requires Anthropic API key with usage costs
- Terminal interface may not suit all workflows
- Best with Claude Opus/Sonnet for complex tasks
Overview
Claude Code is an agentic coding tool from Anthropic that operates directly in your terminal. Unlike IDE-based assistants, Claude Code can autonomously navigate your codebase, read files, write code, run commands, fix errors, and create Git commits, all through a conversational terminal interface.
What sets Claude Code apart is its agentic nature: it does not just suggest code snippets, it actively works through multi-step tasks. Given a bug report, it can find the relevant code, understand the issue, implement a fix, run tests, and commit the result. It works with any programming language, any framework, and any editor.
Claude Code understands project context by reading files, exploring directory structures, and examining existing patterns. This context awareness enables it to write code that fits naturally into your existing codebase rather than producing generic solutions.
When to Use
Use Claude Code for complex coding tasks that benefit from autonomous, multi-step execution: bug fixes, feature implementation, refactoring, test writing, and codebase exploration. It excels when tasks require understanding and modifying multiple files.
Getting Started
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
claude