What is Claude Code? Getting Started with AI Coding Agents

Claude CodeAISetup

What is Claude Code?

Claude Code is an AI coding agent developed by Anthropic. It runs in the terminal and automatically generates, edits, debugs, and deploys code based on natural language instructions.

Unlike traditional code completion tools (GitHub Copilot, Cursor), Claude Code takes an agent-based approach. It doesn’t just suggest code — it autonomously reads and writes files, executes commands, and fixes errors.

What Can Claude Code Do?

  • Automatic code generation — Generate multi-file code from instructions like “Build a React dashboard”
  • Bug fixing — Paste an error log and Claude identifies the cause and applies a fix
  • Refactoring — Suggests and executes improvements to existing code
  • Test creation — Automatically generates tests for existing code
  • Git operations — Automates commits, branch creation, and PR creation

Requirements

To use Claude Code, you need:

RequirementDescription
Linux VPSUbuntu 22.04+ recommended. AWS, GCP, Vultr, etc.
Node.js 18+Required for Claude Code to run
Anthropic accountAPI plan or Max/Pro/Teams subscription

Installation

1. Install Node.js

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
nvm install --lts

2. Install Claude Code

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

3. Authenticate

claude login

A browser window will open for you to log in with your Anthropic account.

Using Claude Code from Your iPhone

Claude Code typically runs from a PC terminal, but with Claush, you can operate it directly from your iPhone.

Claush is an app that connects to Claude Code on your server via SSH. With a chat-based UI, you can code and manage servers on the go.

Learn more at the Claush official website.