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Set up your computer

You have never opened a terminal. That is fine. By the end of this page you will have one open, you will know how to move around in it, and you will have git and Node installed. That is everything Claude Code and Codex need. No code editor. The agent does the typing. Take it slowly. Nothing here can break your computer.

You need

A Mac, a Windows PC or a Linux PC. A Chromebook with Linux turned on works too, treat it as Linux.
An internet connection.
About an hour. Most of it is waiting for downloads.
The password you use to log in to your computer. Installers ask for it.

1. Open a terminal

A terminal is an app where you type commands instead of clicking. You type a line, press Enter, and the computer does it and prints an answer. It looks old-fashioned. It is also the fastest way to talk to a computer, and it is where Claude Code and Codex live.

Pick your computer below. The site remembers your choice on every page.

Mac

Press Cmd + Space. A search box appears.
Type Terminal and press Enter.
You should see: a small window with a line of text that ends in % or $, and a blinking cursor.
Right-click the Terminal icon in the Dock and choose Options, then Keep in Dock. Now it is one click away.

Windows

Windows gives you two choices.

WSL 2 (we recommend this). WSL stands for Windows Subsystem for Linux. It puts a real Linux (called Ubuntu) inside Windows. Most coding guides, this one included, are written for Mac and Linux. With WSL every command on this site works as written. If you plan to do more than one project, use WSL. You need Windows 11, or Windows 10 that is up to date (version 2004 or later). The command below installs version 2, the current one.
PowerShell. This is the terminal Windows already has. It works for a first try, but many commands differ, and you will hit more snags later.

To set up WSL:

Click Start, type PowerShell, then right-click Windows PowerShell and choose Run as administrator. Click Yes when Windows asks if this app may make changes.
Type this and press Enter:
```
wsl --install
```
You should see: lines about downloading and installing, then a message asking you to restart.
Restart your computer. This step is not optional. WSL does not work until you restart.
After the restart, a window called Ubuntu opens by itself and finishes installing. If it does not, click Start and type Ubuntu.
It asks for a new username. Use a short one, all lowercase, no spaces. Then it asks for a password, twice. Nothing shows while you type the password. Not even dots. That is normal. Type it and press Enter.
You should see: a line like yourname@PC:~$ with a blinking cursor.
Check you got version 2. Open PowerShell again (not as administrator this time) and run:
```
wsl -l -v
```
You should see: a short table with Ubuntu in it and a 2 in the VERSION column. If it says 1, run wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2 and wait for it to finish.
From now on, "open a terminal" means open the Ubuntu app. Right-click it in the taskbar and pin it.

Keep your projects inside Ubuntu, in the folder we make below. Do not keep them on your C: drive. Things run much faster inside Ubuntu.

If you choose PowerShell instead, open it from Start. The commands on this page that differ are marked.

Linux

Press Ctrl + Alt + T. On most Linux desktops this opens a terminal. If not, search your apps for Terminal.
You should see: a window with a line ending in $ and a blinking cursor.

2. Find out where you are

A terminal is always "in" one folder. Three commands tell you where you are and move you around. Type each one and press Enter.

pwd means "print working directory". Directory is another word for folder.
```
pwd
```
You should see: something like /Users/yourname on a Mac, or /home/yourname on Linux and WSL. This is your home folder.
ls means "list". It shows what is in this folder.
```
ls
```
You should see: a few folder names, like Desktop, Documents, Downloads. On a fresh WSL you may see nothing at all. That is fine, it is a new, empty home.
cd means "change directory". It moves you into a folder. Go up one level:
```
cd ..
```
Run pwd again. You should see: the path got shorter by one folder.
Go back home. The squiggle ~ (called tilde) always means your home folder.
```
cd ~
```
Run pwd. You should see: your home folder again.

3. Make a folder for your projects

Every project you build gets its own folder. Keep them all in one place, so you always know where to look.

mkdir means "make directory". This makes a folder called code in your home folder.
```
mkdir ~/code
```
You should see: nothing. No news is good news in a terminal. Most commands that work print nothing.
Move into it.
```
cd ~/code
```
Check where you are.
```
pwd
```
You should see: your home folder with /code on the end, like /Users/yourname/code.

These three commands work the same in PowerShell too.

4. Install git

Git keeps a history of every change in a project. If something goes wrong, you can go back. Claude Code and Codex use it all the time, and so will you when you save your work on GitHub later.

Mac

Run this. It installs Apple's developer tools, which include git.
```
xcode-select --install
```
You should see: a pop-up window asking if you want to install the tools. Click Install, then Agree. It takes a few minutes.
If it says the tools are already installed, good. You already have git.

If you already use Homebrew (a tool for installing things on a Mac), brew install git works too. You do not need Homebrew for this guide.

Windows

WSL (Ubuntu): Ubuntu usually comes with git. To make sure, run these two commands. The first refreshes the list of things Ubuntu can install. The second installs git.

```
sudo apt update
```
You should see: a password prompt. sudo means "do this as the boss of the computer", so it asks for the Ubuntu password you just made. Nothing shows as you type. Then lines of text scroll past.
```
sudo apt install git
```
You should see: either "git is already the newest version", or it asks Do you want to continue? [Y/n]. Type y and press Enter.

PowerShell: download and run Git for Windows from git-scm.com. Click Next through the installer; the default choices are fine. Then close PowerShell and open it again. Claude Code also needs Git for Windows if you run it outside WSL.

Linux

On Ubuntu, Debian and similar:

```
sudo apt update
```
You should see: a password prompt (your login password; nothing shows as you type), then lines of text.
```
sudo apt install git
```
You should see: "git is already the newest version", or a question Do you want to continue? [Y/n]. Type y and press Enter.

On other Linux systems, use your package manager. Fedora uses dnf, Arch uses pacman.

5. Install Node

Node lets your computer run JavaScript outside a web page. You will not write Node code yet. Some tools you install later need it, including the npm way of installing Codex and Cloudflare's tool for putting things online. Get Node 22 or newer.

Mac

Go to nodejs.org/en/download.
Download the macOS installer for the LTS version. LTS means "long-term support", the steady one.
Open it and click through. It asks for your Mac password.
Close the terminal window and open a new one. A terminal only notices new programs when it starts.

Windows

WSL (Ubuntu): use nvm, the Node Version Manager. It installs Node inside Ubuntu without sudo, and lets you switch versions later.

Go to github.com/nvm-sh/nvm. Find "Installing and Updating". Copy the line that starts with curl and paste it into Ubuntu. To paste in a terminal, right-click, or press Ctrl + Shift + V.
Close Ubuntu and open it again.
Install the current LTS version of Node:
```
nvm install --lts
```
You should see: a download, then a line like Now using node v24….

PowerShell: download the Windows installer (LTS) from nodejs.org/en/download, run it, click through, then close PowerShell and open it again.

Linux

Use nvm, the Node Version Manager. It installs Node in your home folder without sudo.

Go to github.com/nvm-sh/nvm. Find "Installing and Updating". Copy the line that starts with curl and paste it into your terminal with Ctrl + Shift + V.
Close the terminal and open a new one.
Install the current LTS version of Node:
```
nvm install --lts
```
You should see: a download, then a line like Now using node v24….

6. A code editor? Not yet

A code editor is like a word processor for code. Most guides make you install one here. You do not need it. The agent writes the files, shows you any change before it makes it, and explains any line you ask about. GitHub shows your files in the browser from chapter 5 on. When you catch yourself wanting to poke at the code by hand, that is the moment to get one. The steps are in Going further.

7. A browser with developer tools

You will look at what you build in a web browser. Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari all work. They all have developer tools: a panel that shows errors and what the page is doing. When something on a page breaks, this is where you look, and where you copy the error from to show the agent.

Open any web page and press F12. On a Mac, press Cmd + Option + I.
You should see: a panel opens with tabs like Elements and Console. Press the same keys again to close it.
Safari only: the panel is hidden at first. Go to Safari, Settings, Advanced, and tick "Show features for web developers". Or use Chrome or Firefox.

Check it worked

Close every terminal window and open a fresh one. Then run these three commands, one at a time.

```
git --version
```
You should see: git version 2. followed by more numbers. On a Mac it may end in (Apple Git-…).
```
node --version
```
You should see: a v and a number, like v24.18.0. The first number should be 22 or higher.
```
code --version
```
You should see: three short lines. The first is a version number like 1. and more digits.

If it didn't

"command not found" (or "is not recognized"). The program is installed, but this terminal does not know yet. Close the terminal completely and open a new one, then try again. If it still fails, run the install step again and read what it printed at the end.

wsl --install says it is not recognized, or WSL will not start. Make sure Windows is up to date (Start, Settings, Windows Update), then try again in PowerShell run as administrator. Some computers need virtualisation turned on in the BIOS. Search the error message plus "WSL" and you will usually find the fix.

A password prompt shows nothing when you type. That is on purpose. Type the password anyway and press Enter.

node --version shows a number below 22. You have an old Node from before. Install the LTS again from the steps above, then open a new terminal.

What you just did

You opened a terminal and moved around in it with pwd, ls and cd. You made ~/code, where every project will live. You installed git and Node and checked each one. Next, you put an agent in that terminal.