Set up a Mac

When you're done, your Mac will have the free tools your AI helper needs, and a Projects folder where everything you build will live. It takes about 10 minutes, and most of that is waiting for a download.

You don't need to know anything about Terminal yet. This page teaches just enough.

1Step 1: Check that your Mac is new enough

Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen, then About This Mac. Look for the name and number of your macOS version.

Claude Code needs macOS 13 (Ventura) or newer. That includes Sonoma (14), Sequoia (15), and anything after. If yours is older, open System Settings → General → Software Update and update first.

2Step 2: Open Terminal

Terminal is an app that came with your Mac. Instead of clicking buttons, you type short instructions and press Return.

Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight, type Terminal, and press Return.

A window opens with a line that looks something like this:

yourname@Your-MacBook ~ %

That line is called the prompt. It means Terminal is waiting for you. The ~ is short for your home folder, the one that holds your Documents and Downloads. The blinking cursor is where your typing goes.

Opening Terminal can't hurt your Mac. Nothing happens until you type something and press Return.

To find it faster next time, right-click the Terminal icon in your Dock and choose Options → Keep in Dock.

3Step 3: Four things to know about Terminal

1. Paste, then press Return. Every guide on this site gives you text in a box like the one below. Click Copy on the box, click inside Terminal, press Cmd + V to paste, then press Return to run it. Try it now:

echo "hello from my Mac"

Terminal answers with hello from my Mac. You just ran your first command.

2. Passwords stay invisible. When Terminal asks for your Mac password, nothing shows up as you type. No dots, no stars. It's still listening. Type your password and press Return.

3. Control + C stops things. If something is running and you want it to stop, hold Control and press C. That's Control, not Command.

4. The up arrow brings back what you typed. Press ↑ to see your last command again, so you don't have to retype it.

4Step 4: Install Apple's developer tools

Apple makes a free set of tools called the Command Line Tools. They give your Mac two things you'll use:

• Git, which saves versions of your projects so you can undo mistakes.
• Python, a programming language your AI helper can use for jobs like cleaning up a spreadsheet.

Paste this and press Return:

xcode-select --install

A box pops up asking if you want to install the tools. Click Install, then Agree to Apple's license. The download takes 5 to 15 minutes, depending on your internet. This is not the huge Xcode app. You don't need that.

When it says the software was installed, click Done. Then check both tools, one line at a time:

git --version

python3 --version

You want to see version numbers, something like git version 2.39.5 and Python 3.9.6. Your numbers may be different. Any number means it worked.

5Step 5: Make a Projects folder

Everything you build will live in one folder, so it's always easy to find. Make it now:

mkdir ~/Projects

mkdir means "make directory". Directory is another word for folder. ~/Projects means "a folder called Projects inside my home folder".

Now go into it:

cd ~/Projects

cd means "change directory", or: go into this folder. Look at your prompt. It now ends in Projects % instead of ~ %. That's how you always know where you are.

This is the one Terminal move you'll use every day, because your AI helper works inside whatever folder you start it in.

See it in Finder too. Open Finder and click Go → Home in the menu bar. Your new Projects folder is there, next to Documents and Downloads. It's the same folder, seen two ways.

The drag trick. You don't have to type folder names. Type cd and a space, then drag any folder from Finder into the Terminal window. Terminal fills in the folder's full location for you. Press Return and you're in.

Planning to build web pages later? That's when you'll add two more tools, Homebrew and Node. The project that needs them will walk you through it.