Part 1 of 2 Get set up

Claude Code Day One

Claude Code is an AI assistant that works on your computer, not just in a chat window. This first part gets it installed on your PC: four small steps, about 10 minutes, no technical knowledge needed. Part 2 is one message you paste, and it does everything else.

Account~5 minClaude Pro or Max
Install the app~3 minLike any Windows program
Open it~2 minSign in, click Code
Pick a folder~1 minWhere Claude will work

Written for a PC running Windows 10 or 11.

START HERE One minute

What this is

You may have used Claude or ChatGPT in a browser: you type, it answers. Claude Code is the same intelligence, but it can act. It lives on your computer, sees the files in a folder you choose, and can create, edit, organize and build things there.

In the browser

Claude, the chat

Like a consultant on the phone. Gives you advice and drafts; you do the doing.

On your computer

Claude Code

Like a capable resident. Does the work itself, shows you what it did, and asks when unsure. You supervise.

Things it's genuinely good at for someone like you. You'd say, in plain words:

  • Read the twelve PDFs in this folder and give me a one-page summary of each.
  • Turn these lab exports into one clean spreadsheet with a chart.
  • Draft a referral letter template I can reuse, in my tone.
  • Build a simple website for the clinic: hours, location, a contact form.
  • Rename and sort these 400 photos by date into folders.
  • Every Monday I copy numbers from one file to another. Do it for me.

Two words you'll see. Terminal is a plain text window where you can type instructions to your computer. You won't need it beyond pasting one line when Claude asks. Prompt just means a message you send to Claude.

One rule before anything else. Claude Pro and Max are not set up for patient records (there's no HIPAA agreement on those plans). Keep names, dates of birth and anything identifying out of the files and chats, or de-identify first. Everything else is fair game.

STEP 1 Have these ready · 5 min

Three things to have ready

  • A Claude account on the Pro or Max plan. Claude Code is included in both. Pro is the entry plan; Max is for people using it for hours a day. Sign up or upgrade at claude.com/pricing.
  • A PC running Windows 10 or 11. To check: open Settings from the Start menu, then System, then About.
  • Permission to install programs on it. On your own PC you have it. On a hospital- or practice-managed laptop, installs are often blocked; if so, ask your IT person to install the Claude app for you, or use a personal PC.

Along the way Windows will ask a few times, Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? That's normal. Click Yes.

STEP 2 Install the app · 3 min

Install the Claude app

  1. Go to claude.com/download and choose the Windows version.
  2. Open the downloaded installer and let it run. If Windows asks whether to allow changes, click Yes.
  3. Open Claude and sign in with your account.
  4. At the top of the window, click the Code tab. That's Claude Code.
The Claude download page, a dark page with a button reading Download for Windows claude.com/download Claude Download Claude Think, hand off tasks, and code, all in one place. Download for Windows
The page is dark. On a Windows PC this button names Windows.
A Windows dialog asking whether to allow the app to make changes, with Yes and No buttons User Account Control Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? Claude Setup Verified publisher: Anthropic Yes No Click Yes
Windows asks this before an app installs anything. It is normal and you will see it a few times.

There's also a version that runs in a plain text window (PowerShell). You don't need it today; Part 2 installs it quietly for later.

STEP 3 Pick a folder · 1 min

Pick a folder to work in

Claude Code works inside one folder at a time. It can see and change what's in that folder and nothing outside it.

  1. Open File Explorer (the yellow folder icon in the taskbar), go to Documents, and make a new folder called Claude. If your Documents folder lives in OneDrive, that's fine.
  2. Back in the Code tab, when it asks which folder to open, choose that one.
  3. If it asks whether you trust the folder: yes. It's yours.
STEP 4 Look around · 2 min

What you're looking at

The Claude app on the Code tab: a sidebar with New and past jobs, and the chat box along the bottom with the Auto setting Claude Chat Cowork Code Claude Code + New Artifacts Customize TODAY Referral letter draft Lab results cleanup Clinic website Welcome back Pick up where you left off, or start something new. Referral letter draft 2h ago Your folder Describe a task or ask a question Auto ▾ Sonnet 5 1 2 3 4
The Code tab with a folder open. Drawn from the real thing; yours will be emptier to start.
  • 1The Code tab, along the top. That is Claude Code.
  • 2The chat box. You type here; Enter sends.
  • 3The mode setting. Leave it on Auto.
  • 4New starts a fresh job. Past jobs are listed underneath.

The mode setting at (3) is the only one worth knowing now. Auto means Claude does the work and tells you what it did, with built-in safety checks. Manual means it asks before each action. Leave it on Auto. To change it, click it or press Ctrl+Shift+M. There is also a panel for files Claude changed and a Terminal; Ctrl+` shows or hides it.

When Claude does ask permission, it looks like this. 1 means yes. 2 means yes, and stop asking for this kind of thing. 3 means no, and you tell it what to do instead.

Command
winget install JohnMacFarlane.Pandoc
Install pandoc so I can convert Word documents to other formats
Do you want to proceed?
❯ 1. Yes
  2. Yes, and don't ask again for winget install commands in this project
  3. No, and tell Claude what to do differently (esc)

Say hello (optional)

Type this into the chat box and press Enter:

  • Hi. I'm a doctor and completely new to this. In three sentences, what can you do for me?

Read the answer. That's the whole interface: you talk, it works.

STEP 5 Done

That's Part 1

Stop here

When the Code tab is open on your Claude folder, you're set up. Part 2 is one message you paste into that chat. It installs what you need, sets Claude up for you, and teaches you the basics. You'll get it separately.