Lesson 1 of 7 5 min

Setting Up

Install Claude Code and verify your setup. Five minutes to your first practice.

What Installation Looks Like

Three commands. Here's what you'll see:

Installing Claude Code
$ ▌

Terminal Basics

New to the terminal? Here's how navigation works:

Basic Navigation
$ ▌

What You'll Have When You're Done

By the end of this lesson, you'll have:

  • Claude Code installed and authenticated
  • Your development environment verified
  • Ready to start learning systems thinking

Total time: about 5 minutes. Let's go.

New to the Terminal?

Here's a secret: the terminal isn't scary. It's just a different way to talk to your computer.

Instead of clicking buttons and dragging windows, you type commands. That's it. The computer reads what you type, does something, and shows you the result. Same as clicking, just faster once you know the words.

Opening the Terminal

On macOS:

  1. Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight
  2. Type "Terminal"
  3. Press Enter

Or find it in Applications → Utilities → Terminal.

On Windows:

  1. Press Win + X
  2. Click "Terminal" or "Windows PowerShell"

Or search for "Terminal" in the Start menu.

On Linux: Press Ctrl + Alt + T (works on most distributions), or find Terminal in your applications menu.

The Commands You'll Need

For this course, you only need a handful of commands:

What you type What it does
cd folder-name Go into a folder
cd .. Go up one folder
ls List files (macOS/Linux)
dir List files (Windows)
pwd Show where you are (macOS/Linux)
cd Show where you are (Windows)

That's honestly most of what you need. When you see a command in this course, you'll copy it, paste it into your terminal, and press Enter.

Pasting into the Terminal

This trips people up:

  • macOS Terminal: Cmd + V (normal paste)
  • Windows Terminal: Right-click (yes, really) or Ctrl + Shift + V
  • Linux: Ctrl + Shift + V

If Ctrl + V doesn't work, try right-clicking. Terminals are quirky about paste.

If You Want to Learn More

These are genuinely good resources for beginners:

You don't need to master these before starting. Learn just enough to follow along, then pick up more as you go. That's how everyone learns.

What You'll See When You Open Terminal

When you first open a terminal, you'll see something like this:

username@computer ~ %

Or maybe:

C:\Users\YourName>

That's called the prompt. It's the terminal saying "I'm ready. Type something."

The blinking cursor after the prompt is where your typing goes. Type a command, press Enter, and the terminal runs it. Then it shows you a new prompt, ready for the next command.

One more thing: If you ever get stuck — like the terminal seems frozen or won't take new commands — try pressing Ctrl + C. That cancels whatever's running and gives you your prompt back. It's the terminal equivalent of "never mind, let's start over."

Now let's get Claude Code installed.

Before You Start: Get Claude Pro

Claude Code requires a Claude Pro subscription ($20/month). If you don't have one yet:

  1. Go to claude.ai/upgrade
  2. Subscribe to Claude Pro
  3. Come back here

Why Pro? Claude Code is included with Pro — no separate purchase. The ~45 messages every 5 hours is more than enough for learning. You'll complete this entire curriculum with plenty of headroom.

Step 1: Install Claude Code

On macOS or Linux, run:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

On Windows (PowerShell), run:

irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex

You should see: Installation output with a success message.

Verify it worked:

claude --version

You should see: A version number.

If "claude" isn't found

Close and reopen your terminal. The installer adds Claude to your PATH, but your current session may not see it yet.

On macOS/Linux, you can also run:

source ~/.bashrc  # or source ~/.zshrc

Step 2: Authenticate with Anthropic

Start Claude Code:

claude

On first run, a browser window opens. Sign in with your Claude Pro account.

You should see: After signing in, return to your terminal. Claude Code is ready.

If authentication fails: Make sure your Claude Pro subscription is active. Run claude doctor to diagnose issues.

Step 3: Verify Everything Works

Run the diagnostic:

claude doctor

You should see: All checks passing. Something like:

✓ Authentication valid
✓ Network connection OK
✓ Version up to date

If checks fail: The output tells you exactly what's wrong. Most common issues:

  • Subscription not active — check claude.ai/settings
  • Network connectivity — check your internet connection
  • Outdated version — reinstall with the command from Step 1

You're Set Up

That's it. You have:

  • ✓ Claude Code installed
  • ✓ Anthropic authentication working
  • ✓ Environment verified

Try This in Claude Code

Your first conversation with Claude Code. Copy and paste this:

Hello! I'm learning systems thinking with the Seeing course. 
Can you tell me what MCP tools you currently have access to?

What you're practicing: Getting comfortable talking to Claude Code. This is your development partner for the rest of the course.

What you should see: Claude Code will list any MCP servers it's connected to. Right now, there probably aren't any — you'll add your own in the capstone.

Lesson Complete

You've completed the setup. Here's what you have:

  • ✓ Claude Code installed — via curl/irm
  • ✓ Authentication working — signed in with Claude Pro
  • ✓ Environment verified — claude doctor passes

The goal you achieved: You can open a terminal, run Claude Code, and have a conversation. The tool is ready; now you learn the philosophy.

Why Claude Code for This Course?

Here's the thing: you could learn these concepts with any AI tool. But Claude Code has something others don't: it's designed for systems thinking.

Claude Code doesn't just answer questions — it works alongside you in your terminal, your editor, your codebase. It sees the whole context. That's exactly what you need for learning the Subtractive Triad.

When you ask "Have I built this before?" Claude Code can actually search your code. When you ask "Does this serve the whole?" it can see the whole system.

That's why we use it. The tool matches the philosophy.

Resources